Halle, Belgium, 2016-Oct-23 — /EPR Retail News/ — Colruyt Group CEO Jef Colruyt received the first Joule Prize for Renewable Energy from Flemish Energy Minister Bart Tommelein at the Flemish Parliament. The prize was presented by the Organisation for Renewable Energy (ODE), the sector federation for renewable energy in Flanders. The ODE awards the prize to reward an individual, organisation, authority or company for having made a difference with actual realisations in the field of renewable energy in Flanders between 2011 and 2016.
Pioneer
The ODE jury unanimously selected the winner from a list of strong candidates and calls Colruyt Group “a positive trendsetter who opens up new horizons for the whole business world in Flanders. What makes them special is and remains the intensive day-to-day care for energy.”
CEO Jef Colruyt accepts the prize as a recognition of the group’s many years’ pursuit of a more sustainable environment. “Caring for base materials and energy has always been in our genes. In 1999, it was a logical step to build a first wind turbine next to our distribution centre in Halle. Today we have the deep-rooted conviction that renewable energy is the future and we want to be a pioneer in the fight against global warming. We are determined to reduce our relative greenhouse gas emission by 20 % as compared with 2008, by 2020.”
Transition to a more sustainable energy supply
Over the past 5 years, Colruyt Group has considerably raised its investments in a more sustainable energy supply. At the end of 2016, the internal energy producer and supplier Eoly expanded its wind park to 11 turbines, producing 50,000 megawatt hours per year. This corresponds with the annual consumption of 18,000 households and a CO2 reduction of 14,500 tonnes. The energy expert recently obtained permits for 3 new wind turbines and keeps investing in renewable energy using the sun, cogeneration and biomass. Eoly’s green power production already covers a quarter of the group’s energy needs; in time this should become 100 %. At the beginning of this year, the Eoly Cooperation was founded, thus allowing private persons to invest in future onshore wind farms.
Ever since 2012, Colruyt Group has been pioneering with the production of green hydrogen, generated from wind and sun. This year the group doubled the capacity of its hydrogen station and started to use 200 new fuel cells for hydrogen-powered forklift trucks. The group is also testing hydrogen as a temporary storage buffer for superfluous green power, in an effort to gear supply and demand to each other.
Finally, through the Parkwind holding Colruyt Group participates in the operational offshore wind farms Belwind and Northwind and in the future Nobelwind.
With its investments in a more sustainable energy supply, Colruyt Group contributes to the realisation of the following Sustainable Development goals of the United Nations: (7) Affordable and clean energy, (13) Climate action.
More information: www.simplysustainable.com
Contact:
Patti Verdoodt
press@colruytgroup.com
+32 (0)2 363 55 45
+32 (0)473 92 45 10
Source: Colruyt Group