It’s a first. Evotec is the first private industrial site to be connected to the Toulouse Métropole heating network. A symbolic step in this time of energy crisis.
In the Evotec boiler room, on the Curie campus on the Route d’Espagne in Toulouse, a brand new installation has taken place. Its gleaming pipes are now connected to the city’s heating network. “We are lucky that he passes nearby”, recognizes Pierre Cooremans, general manager of Evotec France. The heat comes from the Mirail incinerator, passes under the Garonne and leads to the campus.
This system, which dates from the 1960s, was ramped up in 2019 with the commissioning of Toulouse Énergie Durable – TED -, i.e. 36 km of network supplied at 70% by renewable energy from the energy recovery unit du Mirail and the Météo France data center in Montaudran.
19,000 tonnes of CO2 avoided per year
The biggest subscribers are the CHU de Rangueil, there is also the ZAC de Montaudran with tertiary buildings and housing, the Empalot area, the CNES, the Hôtel de Région and soon the Ile du Ramier. “Today is the turn of Evotec, rejoiced Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president of Toulouse Métropole, on Wednesday during the inauguration of the site. We are happy that companies are taking it up”.
Management, design and marketing have been entrusted to Dalkia, a subsidiary of EdF. “The network has a capacity of 120 gigawatt hours, 135 buildings will eventually be connected and 19,000 tonnes of CO2 will be avoided per year”, counts Valérie Patron, regional director of Dalkia Sud-Ouest. The Evotec part representing 2,000 tonnes.
The future of the Mirail incinerator
“This connection is part of the group’s desire to reduce its energy footprint by following the Paris agreements,” explains Pierre Cooremans, Managing Director of Evotec France. Of the 17 sites that this German company specializing in innovative pharmaceutical products has around the world, Toulouse is the only one to be so heated. “This allows us to reduce our energy bill”, as well as the carbon footprint by 40%. The network will also be used to air-condition a building.
Installed since 2015 on the former Sanofi site, Evotec has nearly 900 employees. Owner of the premises since 2020, the brand has started the construction of its bio-medicine production plant which will also be connected to TED.
“Our 140 tonnes of waste will indirectly allow us to heat up,” summarizes Thibaut Piquet, technical director of Evotec. But the question arises of the future of the Mirail incinerator, which turned out to be the most polluting in France. If work is undertaken, the capacity will be affected and the TED partners will have to consider other sources of energy production.