PhosAgro will expand the use of green energy

Within the framework of the 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, PhosAgro signed an agreement with TGC-1 to increase the use of green energy in the production of mineral fertilizers.

Last December, the PhosAgro Board of Directors approved a climate strategy. It aims at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including indirect energy emissions, which are generated during the production of energy, consumed by the company’s industrial complexes. The climate strategy is based on the low-carbon transition plan.

The signing of the new agreement between PhosAgro and TGC-1 reflects the development of the contract for the supply of electricity generated at the company’s hydroelectric power plants, which the parties concluded in January 2021. The supply volume in 2021 will amount to 323 million kWh.

“PhosAgro and TGC-1 are linked by a long-term partnership. For decades, TPP (Thermal Power Plant) and HPP (Hydro Power Plant), which are now part of TGC-1, have reliably provided our enterprises and cities of our presence with heat and electricity. Our Apatit plant and power plants of TGK-1 in the Murmansk region became the pioneers of the mining industry and GOELRO of the Polar region, respectively,” noted PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev. “At the beginning of the year, we reached a new level of cooperation with TGC-1, having reserved for Apatit the volumes of green energy, which this year will cover more than 20% of the energy demand of our plant. And today we are signing an agreement on a significant increase in the consumption of green energy from the TGC-1 HPP. I am confident that our cooperation with TGC-1 will be sustainable and productive.”

PhosAgro is actively introducing energy-efficient and green technologies at its enterprises. For example, the use of frequency converter at industrial complexes, which reduces the power consumed by electrical motors and energy losses during the start of the motors. Another example is a major energy efficiency project, which contemplates the construction of several power plants operating on waste steam from sulfuric acid plants.

Due to these actions, enterprises in Cherepovets (Vologda region) and Balakovo (Saratov region) provide themselves with the energy of their own generation in the range of 60-80%. A power generating plant of a similar operating principle was designed and currently is under construction in the city of Volkhov.

In 2020, PhosAgro launched a project for the use of renewable energy sources at industrial and social facilities. Izumrud, a corporate sanatory and hotel complex in Balakovo, became the first experimental site. The first solar power plant with a capacity of 25 kW was installed on the roof of the medical building of the corporate sanatorium. In spring 2021, similar panels are planned to be installed on the hotel building of the Izumrud complex, totally creating a system with a capacity of 45 kW. Besides, it’s planned to test the technology in the plant conditions at the Balakovo chemical complex of the company.