About Fripa
Fripa is one of Germany’s leading hygiene paper manufacturers, producing paper products for washrooms, workplaces, and healthcare. The energy-intensive manufacturing process requires approximately 300 GWh of natural gas and 100 GWh of electricity annually, which is managed by Sebastian Pfaff, Head of Energy Management.
“For paper production, we need a lot of drying heat and electricity. The process steam, as well as a large portion of the electrical energy, is primarily generated through our natural gas-fired combined heat and power plant. We source the remaining electricity from the public grid,” Pfaff explains.
The challenge
The demands of the electricity market and the power grids required increasing flexibility in regulating the gas turbine, which the previous long-term full-supply contracts with a single energy provider could not accommodate. Additionally, Fripa lacked the ability to freely feed in third-party quantities. When the existing supply contracts expired, Fripa consulted ESFORIN and their energy advisor ecotec, following their recommendation they turned to enmacc.
“We wanted to bring more transparency and flexibility into our energy procurement. enmacc was perfect for that,” Pfaff emphasises.
Energy procurement on enmacc
“The enmacc marketplace provides access to a variety of trading partners. ESFORIN handles our balancing group management and balancing energy. Having one point of contact for technical matters and one for contractual matters is a great added value for us,” says Pfaff.
“In the past, we signed multi-year supply contracts for traditional delivery years. Now, we also buy quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily products. We can flexibly order the quantities we need without having to adhere to fixed ranges. Additionally, we can also sell, which has become extremely important for us,” explains Pfaff.
“Another advantage is team collaboration in energy procurement. Three of us can work simultaneously and track live request-for-quotations created by a team member, even from different locations. This makes the process easy and efficient. The transparency and number of quotes give us a strong competitive advantage,” he adds.
A proactive partnership
“What we particularly appreciate is enmacc’s account management. It goes far beyond just answering our questions. Our account manager supports us proactively and gives tailored recommendations, for example, suggesting potential trading partners or helping with price inquiries,” says Pfaff. “This is truly a success story.”
