The battery charges from a 7 MWp on-site solar array and a flexible grid PPA with EDP. Under a heat-as-a-service model, EDP designs, builds and operates the system, allowing Heineken to receive low-carbon steam with no process changes and no CapEx exposure.
Project overview
Lead: Heineken
Country: Portugal
Sector: Food & Beverage (TES, solar PV, green PPA and steam-as-a-service)
Stage: Pre-FID / go-live in April 2027
Financing: HaaS / heat purchase agreements and EIB & Breakthrough Energy Catalyst grant
Success factors & impact
Four key enablers make the Heineken Vialonga model viable at scale:
01. Price visibility
- Under HaaS model, Heineken pays per unit of steam with no upfront CapEx exposure
- Steam delivered at identical pressure and quality to fossil-fired supply, requiring no process adaptation and eliminating reliance on gas boilers
02. Infrastructure readiness
- On-site solar array and flexible grid PPA ensures continuous charging of the heat battery
- Thermal storage decouples generation from consumption, smoothing demand and reducing grid reinforcement needs
03. Flexible systems & economics
- EIB and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst grant support closes the financing gap for first-of-a-kind thermal storage at industrial scale
- Public backing signals investability, enabling EDP to own and operate the system as a long-term asset
04. Risk sharing & capital models
- Grid PPA availability, EIB financing and regulatory approvals allow for scale-up
- Model is replicable across food & beverage, pharma, chemicals and pulp & paper, all sectors with continuous 100–200°C steam demand
System-level value
- Reduces industrial gas demand and grid peak load by storing renewable electricity as heat
- Optimises capital deployment via HaaS risk-sharing, eliminating the investment barrier for industrial heat decarbonisation
- De-risks broader market learning and replicability as the first large-scale heat battery in the European beverage sector
Key metrics
- 100 MWh Rondo Heat Battery capacity
- 6,600 tCO₂/yr emissions reduction
- 25 GWh/yr renewable energy input (solar + PPA)
TES: Thermal Energy Storage
PPA: Power Purchase Agreement
HaaS: Heat-as-a-service
Source: Heineken