Akuo Energy invests Euro 150 million in biomass energy in France

Feb 11, 2013. /Lesprom Network/. NEREA, a subsidiary of Akuo Energy, has begun construction of a 13MW biomass cogeneration facility in Estrees-Mons, in the Somme department of France, as the company said in a press release received by Lesprom Network. This project, Cogeneration Biomasse d’Estrees-Mons, which represents a Euro 65 million investment, was granted by the Regulatory Commission of Energy through its third call for tender for biomass projects. The project will be in operation by the end of 2014 and will produce 100,000 MWh of electricity per year (equal to the electrical consumption of 25,000 homes), as well as 25 tons of steam per hour for the Bonduelle Europe Long Life factory in Estrees- Mons. This project solidifies NEREA’s position in biomass energy in Picardie, with it coming on the heels of NEREA finishing construction of another biomass facility in Nesle, also located in the Somme. That project, called KOGEBAN (Cogeneration Biomasse Ajinomoto de Nesle), is a 16MW biomass cogeneration facility that will produce 60 tons of steam per hour for Ajinomoto Foods Europe’s food-processing facility in Nesle. KOGEBAN is expected to begin commercial operation in April 2013. SABEHF (Societe Biomasse Energie des Hauts de France), a NEREA subsidiary, will supply the two plants with wood pellets. This storage, crushing and distribution center began operation in early January 2013, in partnership with two local forest product companies, Idelot and Huberlant. The two biomass facilities, along with the biomass platform, represent a Euro 150 million investment for Akuo Energy, and they have the unique distinction of being among the first biomass projects in France to be financed using non-recourse project financing. This type of financing is unique in that it relies solely on the quality of a project and its industrial partners. These projects will create nearly 190 jobs, 50 of which will be on-site with the remaining 140 being created at the companies furnishing the woody biomass, revitalizing a local industry that has suffered due to the closing of several paper companies. “These projects only represent the first step for Akuo Energy in biomass, since several other projects of the same type are currently being developed in France and abroad,” said Jean Christophe Guimard, director of Akuo Biomass.