Skyven Technologies, an Energy-as-a-Service company with a mission to decarbonize industrial process heat, and California Dairies Inc. (CDI), the largest member-owned milk marketing and processing cooperative in California, announced they have successfully implemented three state-of-the-art decarbonization technologies designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce emissions without affecting facility operations.        

CDI has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, and Skyven's decarbonization solutions are helping them meet that goal, the companies said.

Skyven and CDI have worked together to design, install, and replicate an integration of three decarbonization technologies at each of CDI's two largest facilities. The six total projects include two of the largest solar thermal systems for industrial process heat in the world. These renewable heat systems are each integrated with a smart steam trap solution that uses state-of-the-art internet-connected sensors to reduce steam loss at each facility. The integration also includes a boiler heat recovery system to boost the efficiency of the boilers by nearly 10%. This innovative integration allows CDI to achieve deeper decarbonization at their processing facilities, helping them to meet their carbon neutrality goals and to contribute to the sustainable future of California's dairy industry.

In total, Skyven's innovative solutions have saved over 3,500 metric tons of CO₂ and over 65,000 MMBtu of natural gas at the two CDI facilities, the equivalent of removing 788 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road annually. In a full year of operation, these installed solutions will save over 4,700 metric tons of CO₂ and over 89,000 MMBtu of natural gas. Skyven and CDI are currently working toward the implementation of additional decarbonization solutions at more facilities.

This project also represents a first-of-its-kind financial structure that leverages grant funding from the California Energy Commission's Food Production Investment Program (FPIP), utility incentive funding from Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Company, third-party project finance, and investment from Skyven's balance sheet to allow the integrated decarbonization technologies to pay for themselves from the resulted energy savings, meaning no capital outlay was required from CDI.

"We are thrilled to combine the manufacturing expertise of California Dairies, Inc. with the industrial decarbonization expertise of Skyven," said Arun Gupta, CEO of Skyven Technologies. "We look forward to the continued partnership, while supporting CDI in meeting their carbon neutrality goals."

"Skyven has played a key role in our mission to create more sustainable dairy products for a healthy world," said Darrin Monteiro, vice president of Sustainability and Member Relations at CDI. "Skyven's ability to design and implement these successful solutions with no cost and no interruption to our process was a vital component to success."