Opel Plant in Hungary Has Appetite for Energy Efficiency

Last month, our Opel plant in Szentgotthárd, Hungary received the Energy-Efficient Company award for energy savings and its contribution to a “Virtual Power Plant Program” that publishes energy insights and results to benefit an array of companies.

This award recognizes companies whose investments contribute to the reduction of energy consumption and increase awareness of the importance of energy efficiency.

Opel Szentgotthárd lowered energy costs and reduced impact on the environment by 888 kilowatts by introducing several technical solutions:

• Smart windows: Requiring no electric energy, these windows fill with gas to control the amount of light transmitted through it to control appropriate visual conditions.
• Cooling tower upgrades: Rather than using cooling gas compression, these towers use evaporation methods.
• Rooftop heating: Leveraging zone control, this packaged system efficiently heats and cools using tailored temperature settings for specific areas of the building.

These solutions led to two larger environmental investments at the facility.

First, they installed new boilers that separately control hot and warm water, improving combustion efficiency. This resulted in reducing natural gas consumption by 23 percent and electrical power by 618 kilowatt hours.

Second, they improved the central coolant systems’ operation to control both pressure and volume. With this addition, one of the pumps can be disabled allowing the power demand to decrease by 270 kWh.

We talk a lot about energy efficiency on this blog. Not only does it save money for us, but it contributes to broader environmental progress and energy reliability.

Our Opel Szentgotthárd facility, as well as our facilities around the globe, understands this. So we recognize the teams there for continually improving their energy efficient practices and sharing their sustainability journey with others.