Denmark’s AET wins EPC contract for biomass-fired CHP plant in France

Danish engineering and contracting company Aalborg Energie Technik (AET) has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for a biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant Novillars, France.

The plant is called Cogéneration Biomasse de Novillars (CBN).

The facility’s construction cost of €87 million has involved 13 players. CBN’s capital is divided between Akuo Energy –Néréa (50.01%), Caisse des Dépôts (21.1%), CAM Energie (16%), Gemdoubs (10%) and Crédit Agricole Franche-Comté Investissements (2.9%).

The start of construction of the new plant took place on 5 December, 2016. The ground-breaking ceremony was performed at the site of the Gemdoubs paper mill in Doubs, in the region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, where the new CHP plant will be situated and provide steam and electricity to the mill.

The mill recycles waste paper, which is used for producing cardboard boxes and packaging material.

The plant consists of fuel handling, an AET biomass boiler, steam turbine, flue-gas cleaning system and steam connection to Gemdoubs. It has a fuel heat input of 63 MWth, an electrical capacity of 20 MWe and thermal energy of 23.5 MWth. The biomass-fired cogeneration plant will generate 153 GWh/year of green electricity equivalent to the annual consumption of 105,600 people and 215,000 tonnes of steam, which previously was produced using fossil fuels.

According to AET, the cogeneration plant will be highly optimised in order to fulfil the requirements set by the French government in the CRE 4 auction round, and will have an overall efficiency of more than 65%.

Green energy produced from locally-sourced wood

CBN benefits from the abundance of wood in the vicinity, and the wood used as fuel will be sourced within a radius of 100 km from the plant, thereby also creating work in the local wood supply industry.

Speaking about the facility, Benoit Galland, managing director of Akuo Energy, said: "The CBN cogeneration plant is the third biomass fired CHP plant that Akuo Energy has developed and owns in France so far.

“Building on the experiences, which our team from Akuo Biomass has acquired from the development, construction and operation of the previous two plants, we have learned to optimise and choose the technology and the partner that ensure the best return on investment for our plant.”

Hans Erik Askou, CEO at AET, added:" It is with pleasure that we continue the great collaboration we have had so far with the team at Akuo! We will do our very best to ensure that the high expectations of Akuo and its partners and co-investors will be fulfilled, and that the project will experience a healthy return on investment.

“We are sure that this will be a successful and green project that all stakeholders will be proud to be a part of.”