INEOS Oligomers has today opened a new solar farm to provide CO2 free electricity to its production site at Feluy Belgium. The solar farm has an area of 2 hectares, produces 3.8 MW and will save 800 tonnes of CO2 per year.
This is an important step for the Feluy site in its goal to produce its Durasyn® polyalpha-olefins (PAOs, base for lubricants) without emitting CO2 by 2030. It also makes it possible to provide customers with products that will contribute towards the transition to a net zero emissions economy.
PAO are essential in the production of high performance synthetic lubricants. They are found in virtually every modern car engine and even in the gearboxes of wind turbines, improving efficiency and extending intervals between oil changes.
Today’s announcement follows the HELIOS project announced recently by INEOS Inovyn, to build a 90,000 panel solar farm to generate 60MW of CO2 free electricity to power the site in Jemeppe, Belgium.
Jean Francois Boideau, Business Director INEOS Oligomers: We already use renewable energy as part of a Power Purchase Agreement from off-shore wind at our Feluy site and so the opening of this new solar farm brings forward the possibility of offering carbon-free PAO products by 2030 to our customers. We have a unique offer in Europe as our products will also be produced from raw materials derived from carbon neutral certified biomass from the circular economy.
The new solar park is only the first step taken by INEOS Oligomers in Feluy on the path to even more sustainable production, coupled with continuous improvement in the energy efficiency of its installations. In 2026, INEOS Oligomers plans to build a second solar farm four times larger. This will save an additional 3,600 tonnes of CO2. The two parks will then cover the entire electricity needs of the two PAO (polyalpha-olefin) units and 12 percent of the site's electricity needs – the equivalent of the consumption of more than 4,500 households.
Karel Brabant, Operation Director INEOS Oligomers: This first step allows us to contribute positively to the decarbonization of emissions from our sites and illustrates INEOS' commitment to its objective of carbon neutrality by 2050. In this approach it is also essential to have the support of neighbouring municipalities, the Walloon region, the State Government and Europe to facilitate this transition, which maintains our competitiveness as well as skills and jobs in the region.
The solar park allows the INEOS Oligomers site to access competitive local renewable energy. Added to the INEOS Inovyn project in Jemeppe, INEOS now supplies 63.8 MW of solar energy in Wallonia. As soon as the second Feluy solar panel park comes into operation, this number will increase to 80.8 MW.
The INEOS Oligomers site in Feluy employs 190 people. INEOS produces linear alpha-olefins and poly-alpha-olefins, which can be found in textile fibers, cosmetics, detergents, synthetic motor oils, liquid additives for aeronautical hydraulic systems, lubricating additives, optical fibers, etc. The park solar was built without public support, financed by INEOS.