Norway. TINE SA

The loan has been provided for the construction of a new dairy in Bergen, Western Norway. The new dairy will replace the company’s existing Bergen production facility, which is becoming outdated and cannot be further modernised due to lack of site space. The new 18,000 m² facility, which will be located in Espenhaugen, Bergen, will consist of production, storage, and distribution. Both milk and juices will be produced, the total annual production capacity being 45 million litres. This is also the production capacity at the facility to be replaced. The new dairy is planned to come into operation in August 2019.

TINE SA is Norway’s largest producer, distributor and exporter of dairy products with 11,400 members (owners) and 9,000 cooperative farms. Tine has more than 1,300 product lines in their portfolio, produced at a total of 31 dairies throughout Norway.

Competitiveness:

The investment of the new dairy will upgrade Tine’s physical capital and business processes, which can be expected to result in reduced operating costs. Along with the efficiency improvements, the cost savings will mainly be due to reduced labour costs as well as  decreased water and energy consumption.

Environmental

By replacing an existing dairy with a new modern facility, the energy efficiency gain is estimated to be approximately 5 GWh annually. This corresponds to a decrease of approximately 40% in use of electricity compared to the situation before the investment. Additionally, an area of 6,200 m² of the building’s roof will be equipped with photovoltaic solar cells. This is predicted to generate about 0.567 GWh of power annually. Use of water and generation of wastewater are also forecast to diminish due to the investment. Furthermore, unlike the existing dairy, the new dairy is located in an industrial area outside the city of Bergen, and less people will be exposed to the effects of heavy transportation to and from the dairy.

Overall the use of energy is predicted to be reduced from 0.24 kWh per litre of processed milk to 0.15 kWh per litre of milk, the total annual reduction being 5 GWh. The use of freshwater is predicted to decrease from 1.5-2 litres per litre milk produced to 1 litre per litre milk produced. The wastewater, which is to be neutralised, will be discharged to the municipal wastewater treatment plant through two buffer tanks of 100 m³ each. The new operations will have no direct emissions to air. A noise-modelling study has concluded that applicable noise requirements will be complied with.