PhosAgro is to increase the use of renewable energy for production of agrochemical products from 2021 after the Apatit mining and beneficiation plant, the Kirov branch of JSC Apatit, signed a contract for the supply of hydroelectric power with TGC-1.

The 100 MW of contracted hydropower means more than 60% of the beneficiation plant’s output will be produced using ‘green’ electricity, PhosAgro said.

In December 2020, PhosAgro’s Board of Directors approved a climate strategy, with the core element an aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including indirect emissions that are generated during the production of electricity consumed by the company’s production facilities.

“As part of this climate strategy, a low-carbon transition plan has been adopted, which includes technical, technological and organisational measures that are being developed and implemented,” the company says.

PhosAgro CEO, Andrey Guryev, said: “Switching to hydroelectric power is another step towards achieving our goal of reducing indirect greenhouse gas emissions. This is important for us, both in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of our products and in terms of increasing their appeal for foreign markets, which are traditionally sensitive to environmental issues.”

PhosAgro says it actively implements energy-efficient green technologies at its enterprises. This includes employing frequency converters in production complexes, which reduce the power consumed by electric motors and energy loss when starting engines.

The company is also undertaking a major project in the field of energy efficiency in constructing a number heat energy converters to generate electricity at sulphuric acid plants. Thanks to this, the company’s chemical production facilities in Cherepovets and Balakovo generate 60-80% of the energy they require on site. A similar power plant is currently being planned and designed for construction in Volkhov as part of an investment project to build a new production facility there.

In 2020, PhosAgro launched a project on the use of renewable energy sources in industrial and social facilities.

The first pilot site was the corporate hotel complex Izumrud in the town of Balakovo. Its first solar power plant, with a capacity of 25 kW, has already been installed. In the spring of 2021, additional panels will be installed at the Izumrud complex, which will increase the system’s total power output to 45 kW. Moreover, there are plans to test this technology in the production conditions of the company’s Balakovo production site.

Aside from this, LED lighting is also widely used at the group’s enterprises, which has reduced lighting costs by 2-2.5 times, as well as the carbon footprint of the company’s finished products. Last year, apatite-nepheline processing plant No.3 (ANOF-3) transferred to energy-efficient lighting, and, in 2021, a similar project will be implemented at ANOF-2.