Meet the people behind eLITHE: partner voices on industrial electrification and the energy transition
What does it take to electrify some of Europe's most energy-intensive industrial processes? Two new video interviews give the floor to eLITHE project partners, offering a first-hand look at the technologies, challenges and ambitions shaping the eLITHE project.
The European ceramic industry emits 19 million tonnes of CO₂ every year. Replacing fossil-based heating systems with electric alternatives is one of the most promising — and most challenging — paths to cutting those emissions. This is exactly what eLITHE is working on: developing and demonstrating electric high-temperature heating processes across three industrial pilots in Spain, Greece and Germany.
But behind every technology, there are people. Researchers, engineers and project managers who bring their expertise, their institutions and their daily work to make electrification a reality at industrial scale. To bring their voices to the fore, we sat down with two eLITHE partners for a conversation about the project: what they are building, what drives them, and what they want to prove.
Miguel Zarzuela, Project Manager – CIRCE (Spain)
In the first interview, Miguel Zarzuela — Project Manager and coordinator of eLITHE at CIRCE — explains what is driving the urgency behind the project, why the European industrial sector cannot afford to wait, and what role the three eLITHE demonstrators play in building the evidence base for a large-scale transition to electrified processes.
Watch the full interview.
Denny Mathew Alex – IZF (Germany)
In the second interview, the team at IZF — the German research institute leading the brick and roof tile demonstrator in Essen — walks us through what makes their hybrid tunnel kiln unique, how it works in practice, and what they hope to prove by the end of the project.
Watch the full interview.