One of the more energy-intensive parts of the automotive industry is the smelting and casting of iron and steel components. Volvo Group’s Skövde Plant, which manufactures engines and transmissions, accounts for around 10% of the company’s total operational greenhouse gas emissions, but thanks to a new project dubbed CarbonSmart Factory: SPACE (Skövde Plant Approaching Carbon Elimination) that is set to change.
The aim of the project, supported by the EU Innovation Fund, is to shift from fossil-based furnace fuels to green electricity and hydrogen, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around 88% in the process.
The technology behind this breakthrough includes a 22 megawatts (MW) AI-controlled peak shaving system and a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 171 megawatt hours (MWh). The result will deliver optimized energy use, a reliable supply, and improved grid stability.
Central to the major upgrade, which is set to be completed by 2027, is the shift to green electricity and green hydrogen, which will replace the coke-powered furnaces and propane gas that are currently used in the smelting and casting process. In addition to being an AI-driven system offering advanced analytics and control, a heat recovery system will further enhance efficiency by capturing and redistributing energy equivalent to the energy use of over 2,000 Swedish households. In total, the SPACE project expects to avoid more than 341,000 tons of CO2 emissions in its first 10 years of operations.
With its focus on renewable energy, the project represents a foundational model that can be replicated across manufacturing sites for Volvo Group and other companies. The Skövde Plant which is one of Europe’s largest foundries will set the standard for how industrial foundries are redesigned to become fossil-free.
Learn more about the CarbonSmart Factory: SPACE project
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
