Heinz beans and spaghetti hoops are going green after food giant Kraft Heinz won Government backing for a high-tech £7.2m heat pump project at its Wigan factory.
The food giant employs some 850 people at Kitt Green making some of the company’s famous tinned foods, including Heinz Baked Beanz. It’s one of the biggest food factories in Europe.
Heinz is using the latest funding to change the way it heats the water it uses to blanch beans and to boil spaghetti hoops. Instead of burning fossil fuels to heat the water, it will instead install heat pumps that will reuse waste heat from other parts of the factory. Heinz says the move will help cut emissions and cut its bills, allowing it to invest more in other areas.
The company has secured £2.5m from the government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports businesses booking to use technology to cut carbon emissions. It has backed that up with almost £5m of its own money.
Saji Jacob, head of west Europe supply chain at Heinz, said: “The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund has enabled this energy efficiency project to become a reality at our largest food manufacturing plant in Europe.
“It represents a critical step in our decarbonisation journey towards Net Zero. The UK business recognises the significance of the investment and is committed to further utilising this technology across our company.”
This is the latest bid by Heinz to cut carbon emissions at the Wigan plant. Last year Heinz announced it wanted to build a £40m green-powered hydrogen plant there that could generate more than half of the gas it uses.
In total the Government is supporting 25 emissions-cutting projects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland with £51.9m in funding through its Plan for Change to drive economic growth.
Other North West firms to win funding through the IETF scheme include Warrington-based recycler Novelis, which has secured £14m towards the £63m expansion of its Latchford Locks site. The group says the project will help it to reduce its carbon emissions by over 350,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile four projects around the giant Stanlow energy cluster in Cheshire have also won funding. Essar Oil UK, which runs the Stanlow refinery secured £1.8m towards a £7.4m carbon capture study – and secured £427,000 towards a £1.7m project to switch to low-carbon hydrogen.
Glassmaker Encirc has secured £2.5m towards its £4.4m plan to deploy a a hydrogen fuel system for glass furnaces at its Elton site, close to Stanlow. Encirc also secured £1.2m towards a £2.4m study on the feasibility of a hydrogen-hybrid furnace upgrades..
Minister for Industry, Sarah Jones, told the MEN: “This Government’s Plan for Change is about delivering what working people want to see in this country. In energy, that means replacing the UK’s dependency on insecure fossil fuel markets with the clean homegrown power we need to protect consumers and grow our economy.
“That’s why we’ve already kickstarted a national carbon capture industry, secured a record amount of new renewable energy projects and published a plan for clean power by 2030 – genuine climate action which will create growth and jobs at the same time.
“Now, we’re helping some of Britain’s favourite businesses to cut their carbon emissions too, while continuing to make the products we love – from baked beans to beer and coffee – with more than £50 million in government grants.
The Kraft Heinz factory at Kitt Green, Wigan, which makes Heinz Baked Beanz and spaghetti hoops
(Image: Kraft Heinz)
“Eight of these projects are in the North West – from Novelis aluminium facility in Warrington, to Encirc glass manufacturing in Cheshire – helping to decarbonise and create jobs around Manchester.
“And thanks to our support, Heinz’s factory in Wigan – the largest in Europe – is installing heat pumps so they can reuse their own waste heat to blanch beans and boil spaghetti hoops.
She added: “Low carbon technologies help firms save on their energy bills and production costs, meaning consumers could benefit from lower prices.
“So, instead of choosing between sustainability and economic growth, we’re putting businesses at the heart of our mission to become a clean energy superpower and providing the reliable and affordable energy this country needs to thrive.”