Naantali has historically been a frontrunner in the decarbonisation of Tata Steel’s service centres. It is the first Tata Steel site to reach this level. An external audit will take place to verify internal findings.

Naantali has continuously monitored its energy consumption and gradually replaced fossil fuels with renewable energy. Diesel powered forklifts are being replaced by electrical forklifts at the end of their lifecycle, the number of forklifts was reduced and the lighting changed to LED-lights. The hands-on approach allowed a gradual transition without many investments. “The biggest challenge has been replacing our propane gas heating system with heat pumps,” says Esa Virta, Quality Manager at Naantali SCC. “We were able to transition to this new way of heating in April 2022. To stop using propane gas is a great step forwards in more sustainable operations, and improved the safety of our site.”

The energy that is being used for powering machines and heating some office parts at the Naantali site comes from electricity and the district heating, and has been eco certified since 2021. In August 2022, Esa Virta and TSN experts calculated the site’s carbon footprint after all improvements had been made. “The only significant improvement that was left for us to make to become fully carbon neutral, was to replace the fuel of some final forklifts with a renewable alternative that ensures CO2 compensation.” After this final amendment, the internal auditors started to collect numbers of energy consumption and requested certificates from energy suppliers. These calculations, done together with Nando Leerentveld, Carbon Reduction Strategy Manager, showed Naantali SSC is fully carbon neutral when it comes to its daily operations.

Heating is indispensable
Heating is an important consideration in the Nordics given the colder climate, which sets high requirements to heating power and insolation. “Ultimately, changing the heating system was essential for us,” says Ilpo Maaranen, General Manager at Naantali SSC. “We wouldn’t have been able to achieve our goals without this bold step forward. However, it is a complicated operation we needed to look at closely, before we could move away from the conventional propane gas heating towards green electricity using industrial air-to-air heat pump technology. I’m very proud of the team and the results that they have delivered.”

On 1 November, the TSN Board of Directors visited Naantali SSC to congratulate the team with their achievements and discuss next steps and learnings for other sites.

Naantali team members received the certificate from Board of Management members. From left to right: Hans van den Berg, Ilpo Maaranen, Martijn Plaum, Jaakko Alalääkkölä, Esa Virta, Tiina-Kaisa Rantala Anniina Haltia, Tom Eussen. 

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