AGC Glass Europe, a Belgian flat-glass manufacturer, and Saint-Gobain, a construction materials company, are scaling up their work on electrified glass melting from a pilot project to a larger furnace at Saint-Gobain’s plant in Avilés, Spain.
The new hybrid furnace will replace the plant’s existing furnace and is designed to run on electricity for 75% of the melting process. Construction is due to begin in January 2027, with production expected to resume in the second half of the year.
The project builds on the companies’ VOLTA collaboration, which began in 2023 with a smaller electrified furnace in the Czech Republic. That project demonstrated the feasibility of electrification technologies for flat glass production.
A larger electric furnace for flat glass
The Avilés furnace will combine electric heating with gas. The companies describe it as the largest electric furnace ever built for flat glass production and the first of its kind at this scale.
Saint-Gobain will supply the furnace with low-carbon electricity through renewable energy supply agreements it has contracted in Spain.
The companies estimate that the furnace could avoid around 80,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions a year. Compared with a conventional gas furnace, that would amount to a 50% reduction in emissions.
Natural gas use is also expected to fall by around 265 GWh a year, equivalent to an 80% reduction compared with a standard gas furnace.
From the VOLTA pilot to Avilés
The new project builds on the work carried out through VOLTA. The earlier installation in the Czech Republic provided a smaller-scale setting for testing electrified glass melting.
At Avilés, the technology will be applied to a furnace designed for full-scale flat glass production. The project is being developed as a technological partnership between AGC Glass Europe and Saint-Gobain.
The furnace is also expected to enable the production of lower-carbon flat glass that meets existing international standards.
Lower-carbon glass for construction
Flat glass is used in residential and non-residential construction as well as infrastructure. Changing the way it is produced therefore affects a material used across a broad range of the built environment.
AGC Glass Europe and Saint-Gobain say the project will support the production of lower-carbon flat glass for these markets while reducing emissions from the manufacturing process.
The European Union Emissions Trading System Innovation Fund co-funds the project.
