Moelven is investing NOK 382 million ($36 million) in a new pellet factory and plant for energy production at Moelven Valåsen in Karlskoga, Sweden. The innovative pellet factory is scheduled to be operational in the autumn of 2024.
“Moelven takes responsibility for using the entire natural resource we obtain from the forest. When half of the timber becomes fiber products, this is a very sustainable and profitable way of managing the residual raw material from our sawmills,” says CEO Morten Kristiansen of Moelven Industrier ASA.
The investment comes as a result of the capacity expansion at Moelven's sawmill in the region. Previously, the Group Board has given the go-ahead for an investment package totaling NOK 635 million ($60 million) at Moelven Edanesågen AB and Moelven Valåsen AB.
The new pellet factory will be fully integrated with the sawmill at Moelven Valåsen in Karlskoga. Energy production will be expanded so that it can supply the increased need for bio-based energy that comes as a consequence of the development.
The factory is built according to the same reading as Moelven's first pellet factory at Sokna in Norway, which is integrated with Moelven Soknabruket. When this was opened in 2020, the factory was the first of its kind in Norway, and never before had such a production method been used in a Nordic climate.
The pellet factory will have a capacity of 80,000 tonnes of pellets a year, but will be dimensioned to be able to increase production up to 105,000 tonnes a year in the long term. The investment entails eight new jobs in Karlskoga, where Moelven has previously located the sawmill Moelven Valåsen AB and the planing mill and distribution center of Moelven Valåsen Wood AB . Moelven Pellets AB will produce white wood pellets of the highest quality class which will be sent to the international market via ships from Vänern.
