Nyrstar fully believes in renewable energy. It’s therefore making its land available for the construction of additional wind turbines on the Lommel industrial estate, close to the Nyrstar site in Balen. ‘This is one of the largest wind farms in Flanders,’ says energy coordinator Thomas Verbruggen.
The wind turbines on the Kristalpark industrial estate in Lommel are currently being renovated and expanded. This autumn, after the construction of twelve new turbines, a total of seventeen wind turbines will be operational. Their average green energy production is sufficient to cover the annual consumption of 33,400 families. That’s almost 2.5 times more than the previous wind farm of thirteen wind turbines.
‘Eight of those seventeen turbines are located on our grounds in Balen and Lommel,’ says Thomas Verbruggen. ‘There used to be four, but these were outdated and were dismantled and replaced by three new turbines. And now five new ones are being built. The dismantled wind turbines have been given a second life at another location, where they continue to supply green energy.’
Nyrstar is not investing directly in the construction of the wind farm, which is being developed by the Aspiravi Group. ‘But we do buy the green energy from the turbines on our sites,’ says Thomas Verbruggen.
50 percent renewable energy
As Energy Coordinator European Operations at Nyrstar, Thomas Verbruggen is responsible for the purchase of energy for the Nyrstar sites in Belgium, the Netherlands and France. ‘Today we purchase 50 percent of our electricity consumption in Belgium from renewable
We want to make our energy consumption even more flexible so as to be able to avoid consuming fossil-sourced electricity when the wind is not blowing.
Thomas Verbruggen,
Energy Coordinator European Operations at Nyrstar
sources,’ says Thomas Verbruggen. ‘And this applies both to local projects near our sites in Balen and Pelt, as well as to European renewable energy initiatives. We are talking here of electricity generated by a mix of wind, water and solar energy.’
New collaborations
The 17 wind turbines in Lommel form one of the largest onshore wind farms in Flanders, with an expected annual production of approximately 115,000 MWh. ‘The turbines will avoid approximately 53,000 tons of CO2 emissions every year,’ Thomas Verbruggen explains. ‘That’s a great contribution to achieving the climate objectives set at various policy levels.’
Nyrstar is also open to new collaborations with investors and renewable energy producers. ‘Green energy depends on the amount of wind or sun,’ Thomas Verbruggen realises. ‘But because we can manage our production very flexibly, and can therefore produce more or less depending on the available amount of wind or solar energy, we have responded well to this. In this way we can play an important role in the energy transition. We want to make our energy consumption even more flexible so as to be able to avoid consuming fossil-sourced electricity when the wind’s not blowing or the sun isn’t shining.’
