The 'trias energetica' describes the guidelines for an energy-efficient project. ECLUSE ompletely meets these requirements.
1. Restrict energy consumption
Before connecting to ECLUSE, each business separately generated the energy it required to keep its processes going. Within this energy cluster, one plant - the Indaver and SLECO plant - produces the steam and the companies purchase steam to suit their requirements. The steam which is not used is converted into electricity in a turbine. The immediate recovery of the heat, instead of converting all the steam into electricity, results in primary energy savings.
2. Use of sustainable energy sources
Before connecting to ECLUSE, each of the participating companies was running on 100% grey energy, namely gas. With the energy cluster, the companies use the steam that Indaver and SLECO generate from waste incineration. Because almost half of the waste that is processed here is bio-organic, also half of the recovered energy is considered renewable.
3. Use finite energy sources efficiently
Formerly, 20 to 40% of the input energy from the waste was reused through conversion into electricity. Thanks to ECLUSE a higher yield of energy is realised: 80 to 90% of the input energy is valorized by supplying steam. Steam is generated using large-scale, energy-efficient plants. Not much is lost during transport due to the good insulation of the network and the use of superheated steam at high pressure and temperature.