Austrian fruit and vegetable producer and marketer, Frutura, has commissioned an energy module from Orcan Energy allowing the company to transfer excess heat from geothermal drilling into clean power.
The Orcan Energy module produces around 625MWh of electrical energy per year, enabling Frutura to save approx. 100 tons of CO2 annually.
In 2016, the company opened Frutura Thermal Vegetable World in Styria, Austria, marking a significant step for a new era of sustainable agriculture. Thermal water is used to heat greenhouses, and until recently the excess heat generated by geothermal drilling remained unused. Now, Futurua is converting the heat into clean energy with the help of Orcan Energy’s module and utilizing the geothermal borehole all year round, enhancing energy efficiency.
Manfred Hohensinner, Managing Partner for Frutura, said, “Now that we have become independent of fossil fuels for heat generation, it was a logical step to convert the excess heat from geothermal drilling into electricity. Orcan Energy was the ideal partner for us, providing all the flexibility we need to respond to any changes in the future thanks to their modular approach.”
Andreas Sichert, CEO of Orcan Energy, commented, “Together, we combine the direct use of geothermal heat with the production of electricity. With Orcan Energy, heat-to-power is also possible on a smaller scale thanks to our modular approach.
“In particular, the simple combination with our standardised modules has great potential: We can meet both the heat and electricity requirements of the building sector, commercial and industrial businesses with geothermal energy in a decentralised, CO2-free and attractively priced way.”
