Press release

Saint-Nolff, 16 November 2023

Verallia France and Charwood Energy partner in a project to develop a syngas production plant and accelerate the reduction of the environmental footprint of

the Cognac site (16)

Charwood Energy (ISIN: FR001400AJ60, ticker: ALCWE), a French specialist in customised biomass energy solutions, and Verallia, the European leader and world's third-largest producer of glass packaging for beverages and food products, through its French subsidiary, today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a project to develop a plant to produce syngas, a renewable gas generated by the pyrogasification of biomass.

Verallia uses natural gas to manufacture its glass products (melting at around 1,550°C), operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Committed from 2020 onwards through its mission "Re-imagining glass to build a sustainable future", the Group aims to reduce its CO2 emissions (Scopes 1 and 2) by 46% in 2030 compared to 2019 and to become a driving force in the transformation of the glass packaging sector.

With this in mind, at its Cognac site, the French subsidiary of the Verallia Group wants to substitute syngas for some of the fossil energy it uses in its production and enrich it to adapt it to the specific technical features of its manufacturing process.

To achieve this, Verallia France has signed a memorandum of understanding with Charwood Energy for the development of a syngas production plant with a capacity of over 3MWth at its Cognac site.  The conclusion of this development phase should lead to the signature of a direct purchase contract to supply this site with syngas.

The plant will comprise a biomass reception and preparation unit, an oxygen production unit, a syngas production line, syngas storage, a thermal energy network, a syngas distribution network and a biochar packaging line. The syngas enrichment tests will take place at Charwood Energy's R&D centre in Colpo, Brittany, using a dedicated pilot gasifier.

If development is successful, construction of the plant is scheduled to start in April 2024, with commissioning in summer 2025.

Philippe Coltat Gran, Director of the Cognac site, comments: "In line with the Group's CSR strategy, our site is pioneering the development of alternative energy sources to reduce its environmental footprint. The solution for producing syngas, a renewable energy, proposed by Charwood Energy, fits in perfectly with this approach, and we are convinced of the long-term benefits that installing a syngas plant on our site could bring. This plant, which will complement the electric furnace due to come on stream in 2024, illustrates our determination to make Cognac a committed site.”

Nicolas Rident, General manager of Charwood Energy added: "We are very pleased to be able to support Verallia in its decarbonisation process at its historic site in Cognac, and to work alongside the operational teams to offer a tailor-made solution for the production of renewable gas which would aim to diversify the energy mix of the Cognac plant."

About Verallia

At Verallia, our mission is to re-imagine glass to build a sustainable future. We want to redefine the way glass is produced, reused and recycled, making it the most sustainable packaging material in the world. We make common cause with our customers, suppliers and other partners throughout our value chain to develop new, healthy and sustainable solutions for everyone.

With around 10,000 employees and 34 glass plants in 12 countries, we are Europe’s leading and the world’s third-largest producer of glass packaging for beverages and food products, offering innovative, customised and environmentally friendly solutions to more than 10,000 companies worldwide.

Verallia produces more than 17 billion glass bottles and jars a year and generated revenue of €3.4 billion in 2022. Verallia is listed in compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris (Ticker: VRLA - ISIN: FR0013447729) and is listed in the following indices: STOXX600, SBF 120, CAC Mid 60, CAC Mid & Small and CAC All-Tradable.

Media relations

Annabel Fuder, Sarah Nascimento and Anne Mauvieux – verallia@wellcom.fr – +33 (0)1 46 34 60 60

About Charwood Energy

Convinced that biomass is a key response to the challenges of the energy transition, Charwood Energy designs, installs and maintains tailored solutions for the production of biomass renewable energy.

Charwood Energy boasts a wealth of technical know-how and expertise in all biomass recovery technologies, including heating and heat networks, anaerobic digestion, and pyrogasification.

Positioned since 2019 in the promising area of pyrogasification technology, Charwood Energy is now also involved in the development and operation of proprietary pyrogasification units aiming to produce and sell green gas, biochar and carbon credits to industrial customers under direct purchasing contracts.

The company is listed on Euronext Growth® Paris (ISIN: FR001400AJ60; Ticker: ALCWE) – Eligible for PEA PME equity savings plans – Certified as an “Innovative Company” by Bpifrance.

To find out more: https://charwood.energy/investisseurs  

Investor relations

CHARWOOD ENERGY – investisseur@charwood.energy – +33 (0)2 97 26 46 30

SEITOSEI ● ACTIFIN – Ghislaine Gasparetto – charwood@actifin.fr – +33 (0)1 56 88 11 22

Media relations

SEITOSEI ● ACTIFIN – Michael Scholze – michael.scholze@actifin.fr – +33 (0)1 56 88 11 14