#Yarn & Fiber

2024-07-18

Geogreen inaugurates a new photovoltaic plant: over 5,000 solar panels to produce 5.5 million kWh/year of clean energy

Geogreen and RadiciGroup are speeding up their photovoltaic development with the inauguration of a new solar plant in the Municipality of Isola Dovarese in the Province of Cremona. Participating at the official ribbon cutting were the Geogreen shareholders including President Angelo Radici, the mayor of the Municipality of Isola Dovarese and other local officials.

Geogreen launches EUR 10 million investment plan to further increase the sustainability of RadiciGroup companies

The photovoltaic plant is located in an area previously occupied by a RadiciGroup production site inactive since 2005. After demolition and requalification work, the land was sold to Geogreen, the sole renewable energy supplier for RadiciGroup.

The solar plant, which has been built taking into account environmental and landscape requirements without using any additional land, extends over a surface area of 40 thousand square metres and consists of over 5,000 photovoltaic panels with installed power of about 4 MW and estimated annual production of about 5.5 million kWh, corresponding to the annual consumption of about 2,000 families. One hundred percent of the energy produced will be used by RadiciGroup, thus preventing the potential emission to the atmosphere of over 2,500 metric tons of CO2 per year that would be generated by the procurement of a comparable amount of energy from non-renewable sources.

Geogreen, which until yesterday was focused on producing renewable hydroelectric energy at its 6 power stations, has now implemented its diversification plan with the production of solar energy at its new plant in Isola Dovarese. Therefore, Geogreen has confirmed its growth strategy in renewable energies backed by a EUR 10-million three-year investment plan, already approved by its Board of Directors.

Angelo Radici, President of Geogreen, stated: "The inauguration of this photovoltaic plant is an important step in our commitment to sustainability and energy transition. Investing in renewable energies is essential to reduce environmental impact and ensure a more sustainable future for our companies, our region and local communities, which we are proud to be part of.”

The photovoltaic panels in our new plant use solar tracking technology and are bifacial, so as to increase productivity by 20% compared to traditional solar systems.

“Our investment in the construction of the Isola Dovarese plant was EUR 4 million,” Massimo De Petro, CEO of Geogreen, said. “As part of the project, Geogreen has included certain work for the benefit of the Municipality di Isola Dovarese: the donation of a portion of the former industrial site to the municipality as a storage area for various materials, the installation of a wall charging unit for electric vehicles and the installation of a 16-kilowatt photovoltaic system on the roof of the municipal warehouse to cover a portion of the municipal government’s energy consumption. What’s more, a 25,000-square metre area adjacent to the solar plant will be retained as a green space, a ‘green lung’ for the local community.”

RadiciGroup: 21st Sustainability Report published

RadiciGroup has published its 21st Sustainability Report, covering the year 2024, confirming more than two decades of transparency and measurement in the economic, environmental, and social dimensions. From its first Social Report in 2004 to the current reporting aligned with the GRI Universal Standards, the Group is now preparing for its next challenge: the adoption of the criteria that will be set out by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).

Twenty years of Sustainability Report for RadiciGroup

The RadiciGroup Sustainability Report reaches an important milestone this year: twenty years have in fact passed since the Group published its first Social Report in 2004, qualifying it as one of the pioneering companies in the realisation of voluntary non-financial reporting. The document measures the Group’s achievements and the actions it has taken to reduce its environmental impact, respect social values, and implement good business management practices.

B.I.G. Yarns achieves EcoVadis Platinum Rating, ranking among top 1% of companies worldwide

B.I.G. Yarns, the carpet yarn brand of B.I.G. and a leading manufacturer of polyamide (PA), polypropylene (PP) and polyester (PET) yarns for contract, automotive, and high-end residential applications, has been awarded the EcoVadis Platinum Medal, placing the company among the top 1% of more than 130.000 companies assessed globally.

Stability in volatile markets: Heimtextil 2026 launches with 3,000 exhibitors and design expertise from Patricia Urquiola

Heimtextil opens the new season with 3,000 exhibitors from 66 countries – maintaining stability while becoming even more international. The new hall layout increases visibility and connects supply and demand even more efficiently. At the opening, architect and designer Patricia Urquiola and Rosa Bertoli, Global Design Director of Wallpaper magazine, talk about AI, innovative materials and future-oriented design for modern living environments.

January 2026 marks Asahi Kasei’s restart of Bemberg production in restored sections of the Nobeoka facility

Beginning January 2026, production at the Asahi Kasei Nobeoka facility – Bemberg’s only production site – will gradually resume, marking a new chapter following the partial shutdown caused by the April 2022 incident. This progress is the result of significant investments and continuous work toreinforce safety measures, restore full operational capacity, and establish long- term stability.

MUNICH FABRIC START: Between Attitude and Sensuality

The future begins where we reimagine it. After seasons of restraint, Spring.Summer 27 marks a conscious counter-trend: optimism, sensuality, and creative freedom are replacing pragmatism and neutrality. Physical presence and individuality are regaining importance – as a response to uncertainty, exhaustion, and algorithmic predictability. The overarching theme of PLEASURE stands for fashion as an emotional space, as an expression of attitude and cultural reflection. Colours, surfaces, and materials become vehicles for self-confidence and joie de vivre.

organIQ seek: smart alternative to potassium permanganate

CHT Group announces new technical findings within its organIQ seek platform that significantly advance the transition toward permanganate-free denim bleaching. Through extensive industrial testing and application research, CHT confirms that organIQ seek can now be used with remarkable effectiveness as a substitute for potassium permanganate in spray bleach, while remaining aligned with sustainability expectations and cost realities in the European market. At the COLOMBIATEX in Medellín as well as at the Exintex in Puebla and the Kingpins Show in Amsterdam the CHT Group will present organIQ seek as an alternative to potassium permanganate.

PERFORMANCE DAYS: Focus topic shifts to the beginning of the value chain

Following the last Focus Topic in October 2025, which placed Textile-to-Textile Recycling at its core, PERFORMANCE DAYS continues to drive the conversation around circularity – this time with an expanded and more upstream perspective. The upcoming Focus Topic, “Textile to Textile: The Role of Collectors and Sorters,” presented during the spring edition on March 18–19, will spotlight one of the most essential yet often overlooked components of a functioning circular textile system: the efficient collection and sorting of post-consumer textiles.

Proven performance, optimised costs – the new RE 6 EL

Nowadays textile companies increasingly need to produce small production runs and respond to market changes with instantaneous pattern changes in order to operate profitably – meaning they require machines that offer maximum flexibility, reliability and cost efficiency. KARL MAYER understands the challenges of the market and is launching its new RE 6 EL. The Raschel machine offers the core strengths of the classic RSE 6 EL and essentially the same performance parameters, but has been further cost-optimised largely due to local production advantages. This makes the newcomer an efficiency champion in production, especially when it comes to frequent pattern changes.