Fortum inaugurates CHP plant in Latvia

Latvia's largest combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant has come online.

Energy company Fortum developed the Jelgava-based plant, which uses woodchips to generate 45MW of power and 23MW of electricity – enough to benefit 85% of the city's heating capacity. It reduces the region's CO2 emissions by around 44,000 tonnes compared to 2010.

Construction of the plant started in August 2011 and took around 570,000 working hours to complete. Fortum's investment in the new power plant and related infrastructure totalled around €70 million.

'Combined heat and power is energy- and cost-efficient,' says Fortum's CFO Markus Rauramo.