Ineos Automotive has officially inaugurated a state-of-the-art €15 million biomass heat plant at its Hambach production and assembly facility.
With a 9.2 megawatt output, the new plant will significantly reduce Ineos' carbon footprint at the site by using locally-sourced, sustainable woodchips.
Read: Who is Ineos?
The plant is designed to consume up to 14,000 tonnes of woodchips annually, providing a substantial 78% of the facility’s heating requirements.
This initiative directly addresses the increased heating demands resulting from the plant's expansion and upgrades since 2019 where it now builds the Ineos Grenadier and Ineos Quartermaster pick-up truck.
Since acquiring the Hambach site in 2019, Ineos Automotive has invested over half a billion euros in modernising and expanding the facility. Key upgrades include a fully-automated bodyshop, a semi-automated paintshop, a dedicated quality inspection laboratory, and a specialised wading pool for water ingress testing.
These developments have expanded the plant’s usable footprint by over 60%, now totaling 210,000 m².
The new biomass plant comprises two boilers with a combined thermal output of 8.4 MW, integrated with an 800 KW heat pump. This system will supply the majority of the site's heating needs, with the existing gas boiler providing supplementary support.
The switch to biomass is projected to eliminate approximately 8,800 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Ineos Automotive is also implementing a circular economy approach by recycling the plant's waste ash through local agriculture. The ash's high nitrate content makes it a valuable enriched fertiliser, benefiting local farmers and contributing to sustainable agricultural practices.
· Opened in 1997
· Occupies 82 hectares
· Footprint of buildings: 210,000 m2
· Workforce of nearly 1,200 highly skilled men and women
· Ineos acquired the plant from Mercedes-Benz in December 2020
· As part of the acquisition agreement, Ineos continued to manufacture smart models for Mercedes-Benz until March 2024
· In total, Hambach produced over 2.5 million smart cars from 1997 - 2024
· Ineos continues to manufacture front-end modules for the Mercedes EQB
· In 2019, €470m was invested in a new second production line for a larger vehicle, including an all-new fully automated bodyshop (40,000 m2), new semi-automated paintshop (13,000 m2), and new quality lab
After Ineos’s acquisition, further upgrades were made in preparation for Grenadier production:
o Enhancements were made to the new bodyshop, new paintshop and to the 30,000 m2 general assembly facilities
o New inbound, onsite and outbound logistics operations were implemented
o An all-new IT and supply chain platform was installed for production planning, logistics and parts quality monitoring
o An indoor wading pool was built, to test for water ingress
Specifications
· Occupies 2,500 m2
· Total capacity: 9.2 MW
o Two wood-fired boilers
o One 800 kW heat pump
o One 200 m3 heat storage unit
· Wood silo gives five days autonomy without supply
· Covers nearly 80% of Hambach production site’s heating needs
· Annual heating volume equivalent to 6,000 homes
