Having saved an impressive amount of energy, Grigeo was awarded at the Smart Lithuania conference

The public limited liability company Grigeo reaped the benefits of its sustainable and competitive activities at the conference “Smart Lithuania” held by Verslo Žinios. This company was declared a member of the Intelligent Energy Club established by Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (ESO) having saved the most energy.

At the event, the President of Grigeo Gintautas Pangonis was declared the Intelligent Energy Ambassador.

“With increasing climate change challenges, a sustainable use of energy has become an increasingly important topic in Lithuania and worldwide. The main measures to reduce the environmental impact are a more efficient use of energy and its production from renewable sources. We are pleased to see the vectors of business and state aspirations to match in this area”, says Rytis Kėvelaitis, Vice-Minister of Energy, having presented the award.

Consistent implementation of various energy efficiency solutions allowed the public limited liability company Grigeo to save an impressive amount of energy – as many as 63.1 GWh – in the past few years. This is how much the entire Šalčininkai district municipality uses in a year.

This result was achieved with the help of a 10 MW biofuel boiler house installed at the company, an energy monitoring system installed in the paper production process, modernized lighting and other solutions. Having implemented these solutions, the company has been achieving such significant energy savings for several years now.

G. Pangonis emphasized the merits of the entire team of the company and said that the company does not plan to reduce its focus on this strategy. “We are delighted to be awarded for having tried to work efficiently for more than ten years now, to reduce energy consumption and to engage in environmentally friendly production. All of our employees who work to raise the efficiency bar have contributed to this. There is no limit to efficiency, and such a nomination is an impetus for us to try even harder”, says G. Pangonis.

The CEO of Grigeo is one of the first business leaders to address the impact of rational energy use on both business results and sustainable development of the society. Not only is this company bold in investing in energy efficiency solutions, but it also willingly shares its experience with other companies and thus makes an important contribution to energy saving goals of the entire country. We hope that this example will encourage more organizations to focus their efforts on improving energy efficiency”, says Mindaugas Keizeris, CEO of ESO.

Grigeo Group is the only company in Lithuania and one of the largest groups of paper and wood industry companies in the Baltic States, whose operating processes cover nearly a complete cycle of wood and paper component processing. The aim of the Group is to turn natural resources into an asset benefiting consumers by optimizing their use, creating and delivering the most valuable products needed and used in various industries or consumer segments.

ESO founded the Intelligent Energy Club for good practices of responsible companies to be more visible and attractive to others. Club members include nearly 150 companies and organizations that have implemented energy efficiency solutions and declared energy savings. During the year, Intelligent Energy Club members have already declared energy savings for almost EUR 120 000.

Efficient energy consumption is a strategic energy goal of the entire European Union. Lithuania has set a target to save almost 11.7 TWh of electricity in 2014-2020, which is nearly the amount necessary to meet the needs of the entire country per year. With increasing challenges of climate change, the goals of both the European Union and Lithuania will increase in this area in the upcoming years.

Photo by Rytis Galadauskas.

In the photo: Director General Tomas Jozonis (in the middle) claiming the prize for Intelligent Energy Ambassador awarded to the President of AB Grigeo Gintautas Pangonis. From the left - Mindaugas Keizeris, CEO of ESO, on the right - Rytis Kėvelaitis, Vice-Minister of Energy.