New Danish biomass-fired CHP plant worth 1 billion

Aarhus City Council has approved an authorization grant so that AffaldVarme Aarhus can build a biomass-fired cogeneration plant. Construction work can now begin and the plant will be equipped to deliver sustainable heat in 2017. The grant amounts to around 1 billion DKK and allows the construction of the new plant with one of the largest boilers for bio-fuels at the local incineration plant.

Aarhus City Council has also approved a grant of 283 million DKK to a transmission facility from the new plant and to the pipe network.

The plant is an important element in Aarhus Municipality’s Climate Heating Plan 2010 aimed at a diverse and CO2-neutral heating at competitive prices.

Flexible & saving
This can be achieved by burning biofuels, which are largely expected to come from suppliers close to the plant. Another aspect is a very high efficiency, obtained by condensation of the water content from the flue gases. The plant is very flexible and up to half of the fuels may be other biofuels than straw, and the plant is capable of producing more or less power, while producing district heating. Finally, the waste water from the production process is used as water in the district heating network, and it provides a saving of about 75,000 m3 of raw water per year.

All in all, it is not expected that the new heat supply project – despite the huge investment – will cause an increase in the annual heating costs for a standard heating customer in a one-family house with a heat consumption of 17,500 kWh. The final determination of the price will be fixed in the current budgeting.

Source: Energy Supply / Waste Heat Aarhus