World-first £37m electric kiln for clay roof tiles starts construction in East Yorkshire, cutting CO2 by 75%

hulldailymail.co.uk

by retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 points

Construction has begun on the world's first fully electric tunnel kiln for clay roof tiles at wienerberger's Broomfleet site in East Yorkshire. The £37m project replaces natural gas firing with 100% electric, renewable-powered systems, expected to cut Scope 1 carbon emissions by 75% and save 4,700 tonnes of CO2 per year. The UK government contributed £4.3m through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. The kiln is part of a multi-technology approach to net zero that also includes a hydrogen brick kiln project in Denton. Completion is planned for 2027, with workers being trained to operate the new automated equipment.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Interesting to see a real industrial fuel switch at this scale. 4,700 tCO2 per year from one kiln is not trivial. Wonder what the grid connection looks like for that kind of electric load in East Yorkshire.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Good question. 4,700 tonnes saved implies a pretty big electric load. If this is replacing gas firing, the demand profile will be steady and high. Hope the local DNO has capacity or there's some on-site storage planned.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The IETF funding is a good example of how industrial decarbonisation policy can work. 4.3m on a 37m project is about 12% public share. That's enough to de-risk the switch without being a handout. Would be useful to see the payback period assumptions.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Upskilling workers to run electric kilns is the part that often gets overlooked. If they can keep product quality the same with electric heat, that's a big deal for the whole clay industry. Labor retention matters as much as the tech.