German Pellets to open CHP plant in Italy

German Pellets is to build and operate a combined heat and power (CHP) plant in northern Italy in a joint venture with a local company.

German Pellets says Italy is a good location to build the plant as the conditions are favourable thanks to the feed-in tariffs that come from electricity derived from CHP plants.

Up to €0.28/kW hour can be paid for renewable energy that is generated for the national grid and German Pellets plans to sell the thermal energy it produces to local customers.

The power plant will supply about 180kW of power and 240kW of heat, which is enough to power around 350 households a year.

‘The technology is highly efficient. In Italy we are following a decentralised model, which makes it possible to produce energy close to where it is used,’ says German Pellets’ MD Peter Leibold.

This is not the first development for the company in Italy as it has been making use of the Italian government renewable energies tax credits, investment grants and feed in tariffs for a number of years.