Discover John Deere’s testimonial, supported by AER BFC
Testimonial from the company John Deere, supported in its waste heat recovery projects by the Regional Economic Agency of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Discover the testimonials of Jean-Michel PETIT, Plant Manager at John Deere, Philippe LUCAND, Works Manager, and Bruno LAMBERTI, Project Manager.
FINANCIAL AID
- Technical assistance: AER BFC & ADEME BFC
- Financial aid: ADEME: 50% subsidy for feasibility studies / CEE mechanisms
THE COMPANY AND THE PROJECT
John Deere is the world leader in agricultural equipment and lawn care. The group employs more than 77,000 people worldwide. In Arc-lès-Gray, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the company has 430 employees, with highly seasonal activity. This site specializes in the design and manufacture of round balers, front loaders, and components for their factory in Mannheim, Germany. The production is highly integrated, including cutting, bending, welding, and assembly operations, and is heavily automated with 40 robots on site.
Sustainable development is at the heart of John Deere’s values. The group has set ambitious decarbonization goals, focusing on reducing energy consumption and integrating waste heat recovery as a key element of this strategy.
INNOVATIONS
The Arc-lès-Gray site spans a roof area of 44,000 m². Its annual consumption amounts to 17 GWh of gas and 9 GWh of electricity. Among the 17 GWh of gas used, 14 GWh are dedicated to painting and 3 GWh to heating. Over the past five years, they have managed to reduce their gas consumption for heating by 1 GWh thanks to two simple projects:
- Roof insulation;
- Replacement of gas heaters with more efficient heaters.
In recent years, they have launched two heat recovery projects:
- A first project in 2015 for heat recovery from compressors: recovery of 240 MWh
- A second project in 2021 for heat recovery from air conditioning and painting: recovery of 540 MWh/year
A final heat recovery project aims to recover the calories present in the 7 chimneys of their painting installation to reinject the heat directly into the surface treatment baths. This ambitious project should allow them to reduce their CO2 emissions by 300 tons and save 1.2 GWh of natural gas.
BENEFITS
- Heating: reduction of 1 GWh for a reduction of 230 tons of CO2
- Compressors: recovery of 240 MWh/year for a reduction of 54 tons of CO2
- Air conditioning / painting: recovery of 540 MWh/year for a reduction of 122 tons of CO2
