The Best of Both Worlds: Why Smart Laundries Are Playing Gas and Electricity Off Each Other

For a long time, laundries have had a pretty fixed relationship with energy: you take what you’re given and wear the cost. If gas prices rise, it hits the bottom line. If electricity spikes, there’s not much you can do about it. As recent events show, having flexibility in the energy your business depends on can be an incredibly important risk management tool.

And now more than ever, we see sites moving towards a simple but powerful shift - producing steam from both gas and electricity. It gives sites the ability to switch between fuels depending on price and availability.

And once you can switch, you take back control.

Turning volatility into an advantage in a changing market

The energy market in Australia has changed and will continue to change. Currently in the middle of the day, there’s often so much solar generation in the grid that electricity prices drop sharply - sometimes to zero or below. At the same time, gas prices can experience sharp step changes as a result of new contracts, or exposure to the wholesale market.

If you rely on a single fuel, that volatility works against you, but if you’ve got options, you can use it to your advantage.

A dual-fuel steam setup allows you to run on electricity when it’s cheap - soaking up low-cost or “free” energy - and then fall back to gas when the grid tightens or prices rise. It’s not about replacing gas, rather using both fuels in a smarter way, and setting up your business for future changes (and shocks).

The results if implemented today are lower costs, less exposure to price spikes, and a more resilient operation.

Solar can be an enabler, and multiplier on electrification return

Solar in Australia is a known quantity, and lots of laundries already have rooftop solar, but not all laundries are getting full value from it.

Exporting power back to the grid doesn’t pay like it used to, the market is changing. In many cases, the best return now comes from using that energy on-site, as it’s generated, offsetting more expensive alternative fuels. Steam production is one of the most effective ways to do this, and existing solar can play a crucial role in supporting the electrification of steam and hot water in laundries.

An electric boiler can ramp up when solar output is high or when grid prices are low, converting that electricity directly into useful heat. Instead of exporting at a low rate, you’re offsetting gas consumption.

Without electrification, it’s difficult to capture that value. With it, solar starts to make a lot more sense again.

Start by reducing the load – efficiency comes first

Before adding new generation (and capital costs), you should always tackle the energy that’s currently being wasted and check whether optimising existing assets provides the best return.

For example - laundries discharge large volumes of warm wastewater every day. That warm wastewater is heat that has already been paid for, so why not maximise it instead of sending dollars down the drain?

Water-to-water heat pumps, powered by low-cost electricity, can recover that energy and use it to preheat incoming water for washing. Because heat pumps move heat rather than create it, they’re highly efficient - typically delivering three to five units of heat for every unit of electricity used. Coupled with low-cost electricity, it’s a win.

In many cases, wastewater heat pumps are one of the strongest returns available on site. An added benefit of installing them is the reduced heating demand on your boilers, regardless of which fuel they’re using, which further lower site electrification costs by reducing the size of any new boiler equipment.

A practical path to hybrid steam

Moving to a dual-fuel setup doesn’t always require replacing existing infrastructure. A common approach is to install an electric boiler alongside current gas boilers, with both feeding into the same steam system. From there, it’s simply a matter of running whichever source makes the most sense at the time.

When electricity is cheap, the electric boiler carries the load. When it’s not, gas takes over.

It’s a relatively straightforward upgrade that delivers immediate flexibility without disrupting operations.

What the numbers say

At Linen Services Australia’s Dandenong site, a recent feasibility study conducted by DETA Consulting looked at this approach in detail. By adding a 2 MW electric boiler and operating it when electricity prices were favourable, the site could reduce gas use for steam by around 45%, with a payback period of four to six years.

More advanced options, like thermal storage, can increase that reduction further. But the key point is that a relatively simple hybrid setup can deliver most of the benefit.

It’s a low-regret move that improves both cost and emissions performance from day one, and provides options around a site’s energy source for the future.

Don’t forget the plant itself

Even with flexible steam generation, some laundries are limited by the equipment on the floor - direct gas-fired dryers and oil-heated ironers lock sites into fossil fuels in a way that’s hard to work around.

Switching to steam-heated alternatives removes that constraint. Once everything runs on steam, your energy source becomes interchangeable.

There are also other benefits to steam-heated dryers. Steam-heated dryers significantly reduce the risk of lint fires compared to direct-fired gas units - a known issue across the industry and a win for health and safety. They also provide reduced cycle times through avoiding drum purges between loads - a win for process throughput and facility efficiency.

A staged approach

This isn’t an all-at-once transition. Most sites move in stages: improving efficiency first, adding flexible steam generation, then gradually updating equipment as it reaches end of life. Over time, that builds a system that’s not overly reliant on any one fuel and can adapt as the market changes.

Where to start

The first step is understanding your site.

A detailed energy audit can map out how heat is currently used, what capacity you have available, and where the biggest opportunities sit. It also helps identify any funding or incentives that could support the transition.

From there, you can build a practical roadmap that fits your operation.

The takeaway

Energy doesn’t have to be a fixed cost.

With the ability to switch between gas and electricity, laundries can take advantage of low-cost power when it’s available, while keeping the reliability of gas when it’s needed.

That flexibility is what turns a volatile market into an opportunity. And that’s what the best of both worlds really looks like.

DETA works with industrial sites across Australia and New Zealand to identify practical pathways to electrification and energy flexibility. From initial audits through to detailed feasibility and implementation, we help turn concepts like dual-fuel steam into real, working systems.