Fortum invests in Finnish CHP plant

Energy company Fortum has announced it will invest €40 million in a new combined heat and power (CHP) plant under development by its associated company Turun Seudun Energiantuotanto (TSE).

The new plant, planned for Naantali in Finland, will cost a total €260 million and come online in the third quarter of 2017. It initially will be able to handle a combination of biomass, recycled waste and coal, before eventually switching to fire 100% biomass.

The biomass it will handle will consist mainly of locally sourced woodchips sourced from within a 100-150km radius. Annual woodchip consumption will be ramped up from 700,000m3 to 1.2 million m3. The CHP plant will replace the region's existing 50-year-old coal-fired power plant.

Ground is expected to break on the new facility by the end of this year. Upon completion in 2017, the CHP plant will generate 900GWh of electricity and 1,650GWh heat a year. Its production capacity is 142MW of electricity and 244MW of heat.

'By investing in a new power plant in Naantali, we are pursuing growth in energy-efficient combined heat and power production in line with our strategy,' says Fortum's heat division VP Jouni Haikarainen. 'The fact that the new power plant aims to utilise as much domestic biomass as possible also makes the new project an interesting one for us.'

The project will be funded by shareholders and external financing. Fortum has a 49.5% interest in TSE.