A British multinational with billions of dollars in sales worldwide each year has chosen Tatura to unveil an Australian first for the company.
Unilever’s Tatura factory is the company’s first Australian site to install solar thermal technology to replace the use of natural gas.
The company said the decision will result in 169 tonnes of CO2 emissions being cut every year, or about the same amount of energy used by a car to drive around the earth 12 times.
“Businesses have a huge role to play in reducing emissions, and I feel proud to be part of a business that has set out a clear pathway to take action against climate change,” sourcing unit manager at Unilever’s Tatura factory Gary Smith said.
“This is just the start for us, and we’re now exploring how we can roll out solar thermal across our facility to further reduce our emissions.”
The Tatura factory employs about 150 people at peak production times, producing dried foods such as Continental Cup-A-Soup.
The company said one of the highest energy uses in the factory is maintaining a low-humidity and temperature-controlled environment in the mixing room where dry foods like Cup-A-Soup are stored and prepared.
That process previously relied on a natural gas-fired hot water system, but that has been replaced by a new energy-efficient solar thermal-powered hot water system.
Solar thermal involves tubes of water drawing heat from the sun via metal collectors. The water is then stored in an insulated tank until it is needed.
Unilever has installed 800 tubes on the roof of the Tatura factory as part of the measure and, as of May 2023, the company is no longer using gas to heat its mixing room, paving the way for it to roll out solar thermal across the entire factory.
It also moves the company towards its goal of eliminating fossil fuel use by 2030.
“At Unilever, we’re transitioning to renewable energy across our factories as set out in our climate transition action plan,” Unilever’s head of nutrition for Australia and New Zealand Katherine Anderson said.
“In January 2020, we switched to 100 per cent renewable electricity to power our Australian factories. In order to reduce our emissions further, we need to transition to 100 per cent renewable heat.
“This means transitioning away from using gas in our factories, and using renewable energy alternatives instead.”
Unilever said the Tatura factory is leading its sites in the innovation.
“Our Tatura factory is the first of our Australian sites to start the switch from gas to solar thermal technology,” Ms Anderson said.
“Our focus now is to install solar thermal technology across the entire site.
“This milestone is an important step towards Unilever achieving our target to reduce emissions from our operations by 100 per cent by 2030.”