"Emergency solution": Trigema is temporarily switching to oil
Created: 09/27/2022, 09:23 am
By: Sina Alonso Garcia
The energy crisis also hit the Swabian textile manufacturer Trigema with full force.
As a measure against rising costs, the company is now temporarily switching from gas to oil.
Burladingen - Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the economy in Germany has been struggling with rising energy prices.
A significant increase in gas costs is also noticeable at the Trigema company in Burladingen.
According to Managing Director Wolfgang Grupp, the company expects gas prices to increase tenfold in 2022 compared to 2020. At that time, according to Grupp, they still amounted to 1.2 million euros a year.
The extrapolation shows that this year you will already end up with 12 million euros.
Now the company has reacted and temporarily switched to oil, reports BW24.
As the
Schwarzwälder Bote
writes, Trigema commissioned an external specialist company to create a long-term energy concept a few months ago.
Steam is required for dyeing the fabrics, which previously came from gas turbines.
As part of the energy concept, experts should determine how Trigema can reduce the use of fossil fuels and use more renewable energies in the future.
Wolfgang Grupp Junior on Trigema's switch to oil: "We're not proud of it"
As an interim solution, Trigema has ordered a gas-oil boiler, which can probably be delivered and installed in a few months.
According to Wolfgang Grupp Junior (31), it is only "an emergency solution" that one is not proud of.
"It's just a temporary measure," he says.
“We all have to look for solutions.
Trigema is not the only one affected by the crisis.
I hope that we will come out of it stronger at the end.”
Grupp Senior also recently spoke about the gas problem in an exclusive interview with BW24.
In this he explained that the company had already switched from oil to gas in 1986, which was subsequently even subsidized by the government.
"Today I'm being punished for switching the entire operation to gas," says the Trigema boss.
"I don't understand why you've been best friends with Mr. Putin for 20 years, become 100 percent dependent and within two months you're a mortal enemy." As Grupp said at the beginning of the war, he supports gas imports from Russia and repeatedly speaks out against sanctions out.
Trigema: timely installation of additional solar panels on the company buildings
The traditional Swabian company Trigema soon wants to install even more solar panels on the company buildings.
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa
Gas prices are currently falling again, but it is unclear how long this will remain the case.
Trigema wants to secure itself with the gas-oil boiler.
However, according to the Black Forest Bote
, electricity can
not be produced with it.
More solar panels are to be installed on the company buildings in the near future.
As a further measure to save costs, turquoise T-shirts are now also disappearing from the range.
The reason: the color turquoise is particularly energy-intensive when dyed.
Despite the economic crisis, company boss Wolfgang Grupp emphasizes that no layoffs are planned at Trigema.
"I guarantee the jobs and there shouldn't be any short-time work either," he said in an interview with
BW24
.
However, the problem of gas should not be underestimated.
"At some point we will hopefully be able to switch to hydrogen," says Grupp.
