HRASTNIK1860 from Vaider with Bronze National Innovation Award

22 September 2026

Brdo pri Kranju, 15 September 2026 – HRASTNIK1860, part of Vaider Group, received a Bronze National Innovation Award from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia at this year’s Innovation Day for its innovation Glass Furnace as a Thermal Energy Storage System. The award was presented on 15 September 2026 at Brdo pri Kranju, where the Chamber presented its national awards for the best innovations by Slovenian companies and organisations for the 24th time.

The award-winning innovation introduces a hybrid glass melting system that combines a gas-fired furnace with electric boosting and enables the use of electricity from local renewable energy sources, such as solar power. In this way, the furnace and the molten glass can serve not only their primary function but also as a thermal energy storage system.

By forecasting electricity generation from solar sources and optimising processes accordingly, the system enables greater use of renewable energy and helps reduce pressure on the electricity grid, while maintaining consistent glass quality.

Congratulations to the entire team from Steklarna Hrastnik and Comsensus (Klara Šparlek, Dr Ana Varlec, Tilen Sever, Dr Gorazd Krese, Tilen Varlec, Mateja Koritnik Žekar, mag. Marjan Polak, Dr Andrej Čampa, Miha Smolinkar) behind the award-winning innovation.

Zasavje as a laboratory for the green transition

Steklarna Hrastnik also took part in the expert programme of this year’s Innovation Day. Dr Ana Varlec from Steklarna Hrastnik joined Tomaž Čebela from the National Institute of Chemistry in a discussion on Zasavje as a laboratory for the green transition. They discussed their experience of connecting industry and the research community and developing new energy and technological solutions.

Cooperation between companies, research institutions, and other partners was also one of the key topics of this year’s Innovation Day, held under the theme Innovations Create a Safe Future.

The Bronze National Innovation Award is another recognition of the development work that Steklarna Hrastnik has been carrying out for several years in the areas of more efficient energy use and reducing the environmental impact of production. Cooperation with research and technology partners also plays an important role, as combining different areas of expertise helps us test new solutions and bring them into an industrial environment more quickly.