Balta Group to Expand Eco Efforts

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/5/2009 12:00:00 AM

Sint-Baafs-Vijve, Belgium —

The Balta Group, manufacturer of broadloom carpets, rugs and laminate flooring, is significantly enhancing its facility here to embark on a project that claims to be the largest solar energy installation on a factory roof in the tri-country Benelux region that encompasses Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"There is still plenty of potential for additional projects in the future", said Jules Noten, ceo.

Enfinity (Waregem), international player in renewable energy, started the project earlier this month

Explained Bert Vanwambeke, purchasing director at Balta: "We finally selected Enfinity because of their proven expertise, references and speedy execution".

Going forward, this autumn more than 18,000 solar panels will be installed on the factory roof. The solar panels will deliver an average power output of 3.6 million kilowatt hours per year — which Balta Group energy manager Mike Top described as "the equivalent to the power consumption of 1,200 families."

Balta will be able to utilize a part of the green energy for its own business activities, and any surplus can be sent back to the public grid. Over a 20-year period, this is expected to avoid 34.6 million kilograms of CO2 emission.

"Balta's decision to become itself a manufacturer of green energy forms part of a broader view of sustainability in which the improvement in its energy efficiency and the reduction of CO2 emission play an important role," said Geert Vanden Bossche, Balta's marketing director.