The Road to 100% Renewable Energy for L’Oréal Indonesia

L'Oréal Indonesia recently announced it has reached 100% renewable energies across all its operated sites. This is in alignment with L’Oréal’s ambition to achieve 100% RE globally by 2025, as well as Indonesia’s Net Zero Emission 2060 target, by accelerating industrial decarbonization.

While this journey started a decade ago in 2014, one of the keys to achieving 100% RE in its operations was making good on its commitment to eliminate gas usage at its Yasulor factory in Cikarang. At the heart of this effort was an investment-grade decarbonization roadmap developed by ENGIE Impact.

An Integrated Solution

Back in 2020, the ENGIE Impact team, along with Tractabel Engineering, embarked on comprehensive studies to identify decarbonization strategies for the factory, which relied on gas boilers for steam and hot water. The least-cost optimal solution was a three-pronged approach that included:

• Implementation of “quick win” energy saving measures (ESMs) to reduce energy demand.
• Installation of a solar PV array to offset the cost of energy from the grid, utilizing a hot water storage tank as an economical form of energy storage for solar power.
• Switching from gas to electricity by installing three electric boilers consuming green electricity to decarbonize steam, and two heat pumps for hot water, with a hot water storage tank as an additional buffer.

While biomass boilers were a strong and feasible option, a thorough analysis of this specific factory led to the decision that electrification of the operations would provide optimal supply chain transparency with a minimal impact on Scope 3 emissions, nearly 100% boiler efficiency, and an easier overall path to an efficient carbon neutral solution.

Roadmap Paves the Way to Results

The technical configuration generates cost savings from the ESMs and solar power, offsetting the increased electricity cost from using electric boilers and heat pumps.

The close collaboration between ENGIE Impact and L’Oréal Indonesia’s local team in co-creating an actionable roadmap was key to the successful implementation of the identified measures, enabling them to reach 100% renewable energies across all its operated sites. That L’Oréal turned the strategy into reality is a testament to the investment-grade roadmaps established from the start and the joint commitment between the two organizations to accelerate decarbonization efforts.