Swiss family-owned Glas Trösch is to build a new glass plant in Belgium. Local Belgian media has reported about it. The company is seeing an increase in demand for flat glass in the European construction sector.
The float glass plant will be located in Lommel. The city in northern Belgium has ports and silicate sand mining nearby.
The 600-metre-long factory will be located on an area of 35 hectares. The company estimates that it will employ 300 people.
The plant will be able to provide double-glazed windows for about 300,000 homes a year. The glass will be supplied primarily to the Benelux countries.
Demand from the solar panel sector, which requires thin and highly transparent glass, is also taken into account. Glas Trösch believes that the solar panel industry will return from China to Europe. Germany, in particular, wants to revive this industry. Research shows that seven new glass furnaces are needed for German plans alone.
The project team has applied for an environmental permit, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2023. Construction work would have started to start in 2024 and production in 2025.
Glas Trösch has also increased its production capacity in Ukraine. Despite the full-scale russian invasion, the Glas Tresh (Euroglas) team has implemented previous plans to relocate production and installed two glass processing lines.