In Belgium, data center specialist LCL Belgium n.v. is making a switch to renewable energy sources for its emergency power generators. The company becomes the first in its sector in Belgium to start using Neste MY Renewable Diesel instead of fossil diesel to fuel its emergency power generators.
An error occurred
On your profile you can see what subscriptions you have access to and more information.
Is some of the information wrong – please contact our customer service.
Please reload the page
Do you want to read the whole article?
- Six editions per year
- Full access to all digital content
- The E-magazine Bioenergy international
- And more ...
The fuel will initially be used in LCL facilities in LCL Brussels-West in Aalst located northwest of Brussels.
The center currently has eight backup generators, having invested in six new Caterpillar 2.25 MVA generators that will operate on Neste MY Renewable Diesel (also known as “HVO100”) HVO100 and two others (which are older) of 1 MWe.
The emergency power generators are only used during monthly tests when mains electricity is deliberately cut or during real power outages.
During tests, the LCL technicians verify that all backup systems continue to operate efficiently, correctly, and quickly.
We are striving hard to be an example for the other Belgian and European players in our sector. Switching to Neste MY Renewable Diesel enables up to a 90 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the generators. With the volume of renewable diesel that we are sourcing for emergency power generators, we will reach a reduction of 72 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, said Laurens van Reijen, Managing Director of LCL Data Centers.
Collaboration with Eneria
According to LCL, the investment is fully in line with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which the company signed in November 2021 to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its data centers and to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
HVO100 is a sustainable alternative to regular diesel, which generates up to 90 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared to fossil diesel.
So by using this biofuel for these backup generators at its data center in Aalst, LCL is taking a major step forward to achieve its SBTi targets.
For its sustainability policy, LCL purposely chose to work with Eneria Belux, a company that shares the same values.
A specialist in renewable energy supply and emergency power installations in Belgium, the company also works with SBTi for its own sustainability targets.
We were delighted to receive the request from the data center specialist LCL to ensure its emergency power generators operate on Neste MY Renewable Diesel. We tested operating the Caterpillar generators with fossil diesel, with renewable diesel, also known as HVO100, and then with a blend of the two fuels. Our conclusion was that whatever fuel was used, the performance – the power and reactivity – of the generators remained the same, said Tim Bisson, Director of Eneria Belux.
In the next phase, LCL plans to have all its emergency power generators in its five data centers in Belgium operating on Neste MY Renewable Diesel.
With Neste MY Renewable Diesel, greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by up to 90 percent when emissions over the fuel’s life cycle are compared with fossil diesel. Companies like LCL can reduce their climate emissions in an instant by just changing the fuel. With the production of our renewable capacity increasing to 5.5 million tonnes by the end of 2023 and further to 6.8 million tons by the end of 2026, we are well-equipped to help our customers around the world to make the switch to more sustainable solutions, said Peter Zonneveld, VP of Sales Renewable Road Transportation at Neste.
Neste MY Renewable Diesel is produced from 100 percent renewable raw materials. It is a drop-in fuel, the use of which does not require any modifications to the existing vehicles, energy systems, or fuel distribution infrastructures.
The GHG emission reduction percentage achieved with the use of Neste’s HVO varies depending on the region-specific legislation that provides the methodology for the calculations such as the EU RED II 2018/2001/EU for Europe and California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) for the United States (US), and the raw material mix used to manufacture the product for each market.
