Background

Founded in 1966, Swiss Krono is a leading global wood manufacturing group specialised in floor, construction materials, and interior design products.
Swiss Krono launched a competitive process to design, build, finance and operate for 23 years (21 years of operation), a new 64MW biomass boiler on its French production site (located in Sully-sur-Loire – 140 km south of Paris) to provide Swiss Krono with thermal fluids / heat for its industrial activities.

The Project is part of a larger investment plan undertaken by Swiss Krono to upgrade one of the plant’s manufacturing lines, expand the total capacity of the factory, and reduce their carbon footprint by replacing the current gas-powered units.
This project offers a great opportunity to enter the industry decarbonisation segment with a flagship European partner, by using biomass energy instead of gas.
Meridiam achieved financial close of the project in June 2022.

Stage:

Financial Close

ESG/SDG Key Facts
The Swiss Krono plant has an annual energy consumption of 328GWh among which:
• 120 GWh are produced by 3 gas boilers,
• 115 GWh stem from the combustion of debarking wood,
• 93 GWh through the co-combustion of dust by-products and gas
The new biomass-powered unit will have a production of 330GWh/year and will replace the gas-based production with decommissioning target by 2025.
Instead of using gas, the Project will generate thermal energy from biomass (byproducts produced on site by Swiss Krono), reducing Swiss Krono’s environmental impact, as well as leveraging the circular economy aspects which is one of the main rationales for the Project.