Continental Has Launched Its Own Innovative Power Generation System

• The system provides 38% of the total energy required at the automotive headquarters in Timisoara
• The equipment represents an investment of over 2.5 million euros
• Its installation ensures increased efficiency, sustainability, positive impact on the environment and optimized costs

Continental, a technology company, has launched its own innovative power generation system at the automotive location in Timisoara. The new technology operates exclusively on gas, with the help of which the electronic components factory provides the electricity needed to constantly supply the vital equipment used in production lines and air conditioning systems. The system also provides dual-use hot water at 90ºC: direct use for the building's heating system in winter and cooling it through absorption chillers. Chilled water was produced using electricity (from a private supplier), and hot water using dedicated gas boilers.

""The investment amounted to over 2.5 million euros. Due to the innovative concepts and intelligent integration of this system at the site level, over 90% of the energy generated by burning gas is actively used (electricity, hot water and cold water). This ensures a double efficiency compared to the classic solutions for electricity production ", says Ralf Luchs, the director of the Continental electronic components factory in Timișoara."

By connecting the vital production equipment to the generator, it is avoided to interrupt the production in case of unforeseen power outages. For example, one second power failure means a complete restart time of 30 minutes and significant risks to the quality of the affected products. Thus, efficiency in production processes has increased and, at the same time, the risk of occurrences in terms of quality deviations has decreased.

The partial independence gained by integrating this renewable energy system increases the sustainability of the services offered by the location in Timișoara and considerably reduces the costs related to electricity consumption. The new concept also has a positive impact on the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants by 14% due to lower fuel consumption for energy production and the elimination of losses through the sometimes unstable distribution.

This project supports the environmental strategy already communicated by the Continental concern, namely to have renewable electricity in all production units from 2020 in the direction of production neutrality on CO₂ emissions by 2040.