Fortum says that a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant using local fuels in Estonia could serve as a model for other areas of the country.
The Finnish firm has inaugurated a biomass-fired facility in Pärnu, Estonia, that produces 24 MW of electricity and 50 MW of heat for the town. The CHP plant is the company’s second in Estonia that uses locally-sourced fuels.
“Our new Pärnu CHP plant is highly efficient and environmentally friendly,” said Per Langer, Executive Vice President, Fortum Heat Division. “The environmental impact from the production process of heat and electricity at the plant has been reduced to a minimum thanks to its fluidized bed technology boiler and local bio fuels.”
The Pärnu plant runs on woodchips, wood residues from industry and milled peat. Fortum estimates that ten more towns in Estonia could adopt similar, but smaller capacity CHP plant in the future.
Pärnu’s annual sales volume will be 110 GWh of electricity and 220 GWh of heat, enough to cover the district heating demand of Pärnu town.
