The new 49.5 megawatts (MW) plant is part of Tampereen Sähkölaitos Group's investment program, through which it intends to increase the share of renewable fuels in its production. The new plant, fired by wood chips and peat, will reduce the need to use heavy-fuel-oil-fired heating plants, thus lowering the carbon-dioxide emissions generated in district heat production. The plant will serve as a base-load power plant annexed to Tampere's district heating grid and it will primarily serve the Hervanta area. The new wood-chip plant will begin producing heat in May 2015.
In the heating plant solution, based on Valmet's HYBEX bubbling fluidized bed combustion technology, special attention has been paid to reducing noise and emissions through noise suppression technology, machinery choices, a triple-field electrostatic precipitator and a flue-gas scrubber, among other things. The plant will be operated remotely from a control room in Lielahti using a Metso automation system. The value of the order is around Euro 27 million.
"The new heating plant will have a significant role in ensuring district heat supply for Hervanta and Kaukajärvi. Utilization of the heating plant will be highest during winter and during the power plants' scheduled maintenance," says Antti-Jussi Halminen, Managing Director of Tampereen Energiantuotanto.
Tampereen Energiantuotanto, a subsidiary of Tampereen Sähkölaitos, is responsible for the group's electricity, district heating and district cooling production, maintenance and development.
Valmet Corporation is a leading global developer and supplier of services and technologies for the pulp, paper and energy industries.
