Lucart Teams Up With Local Municipality to Heat Local Sports Center

The municipality of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana teams up with Lucart to heat the local sports centre. The district heating project for heating the local sports centre using the surplus thermal energy from the paper mill was presented yesterday to the press. Attending were Mayor Andrea Tagliasacchi, Mario Puppa, Councillor of the Region of Tuscany and Vice President of the Economic Development Commission, Diego Strina, Director of the Lucart Castelnuovo plant, and Marcello Bertocchini, President of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.

The project
The activity, financed by the Region of Tuscany, will use the excess heat produced at the Lucart plant to heat the local sports centre, in particular the swimming pools, the “Nardini” stadium, the sports hall, the tennis courts and the old stadium. The municipality has calculated that the project should lead to a saving of approximately 40 percent of the current methane gas consumption with a simultaneous reduction in emissions of 66 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Since 2012, when Lucart took over the factory that now produces Tenderly brand ranges, the company has been working to optimise the energy balance of the high-efficiency cogeneration turbine. Some of the generated heat was dispersed and this was identified as an opportunity to be exploited. A revolutionary technology was pioneered in collaboration with Valmet to convey the fumes from the Turbogas system into the paper drying hoods instead of using conventional methane burners. During the winter, some of the heat is used to warm the paper converting department of the plant and has proven to be capable of considerably improving the comfort of the working environment. Now, the district heating project means that the residual heat from the cogeneration process not employed by the industrial process can be used for the benefit of everyone.

“At a time when high utility bills are forcing local authorities to close swimming pools and other social centres, we have found a way to collaborate with the municipality of Castelnuovo to allow citizens to continue to enjoy these spaces", explained Diego Strina, director of the Lucart plant in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. “Transparency and open exchanges with the local population always rewards. At Lucart we have always put sustainability first, and in doing so, thanks to our friendly relationships and close cooperation with local authorities, we were able to come up with a win-win solution. The surplus heat will not be wasted and at the same time we will be able to take advantage of white certificates for savings in energy end-use.”

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