Tampereen Energiantuotanto and Vapo Announce Biggest Pellet Deal in History
The Sarankulma heating plant serves as a peak load and standby plant, replacing some of the capacity of the existing oil- and gas-fuelled boiler plants. The principal fuel for the new plant is wood pellets, with a heat output of 33 MW.
‒ Replacing some of the existing boilers with a new, modern pellet-fired boiler will significantly reduce the CO2 emissions from district heating. This is one of the green steps that we, as a group, are committed to taking, says Antti-Jussi Halminen, Managing Director of Tampereen Energiantuotanto Oy.
The Sarankulma pellet-fired plant combines pulverised combustion technology with MW Power’s knowhow in boilers. The pellet fuel is pulverised in separate grinding mills then treated and burned in a pulverised fuel boiler. This combustion process offers remarkable load control, and the pulverised fuel allows for clean, energy-efficient and flexible heat production.
Vapo Oy has a total of five pellet plants in Finland, with a combined production capacity of a good 250,000 tonnes of pellets. In previous years, Vapo has sold just over 100,000 tonnes of pellets in Finland. According to Martti Savolainen, Director of the Vapo Pellets business, the pellet supply agreement with Tampereen Energiantuotanto is in a league of its own in its magnitude. It corresponds to the full-capacity output of a large pellet plant for a quarter of a year or the annual pellet demand of 4,000 pellet-heated single-family homes. We hope that this deal will serve as an encouraging example to other energy companies planning the building of new boiler plants.
According to Mr. Savolainen, Vapo has the ability and capacity to supply pellets, with no additional investments, to several new large clients. The pellets for the City of Tampere Power Utility will be produced at Vapo’s plant in Vilppula. ‒ Tampereen Energiantuotanto is an especially appealing new client for us in that they also require pellets in the spring, summer and autumn, which enables us to spread out the production throughout the year, says Mr. Savolainen.
According to Timo Heinonen, Development Manager at Tampereen Energiantuotanto Oy, the new pellet-fired boiler is justified by the price of the fuel, in addition to the fact that it is domestic and emission-free.
‒ When selecting the fuel supplier, special emphasis was placed on the supplier’s ability to deliver large amounts of high-quality pellets on short notice, should we need to utilise the pellet-fired boiler as a standby for a large boiler. For us, Vapo was the natural choice, Mr. Heinonen concludes.
Tampereen Energiantuotanto Oy is a subsidiary of the City of Tampere Power Utility. The company produces roughly 1,500 GWh of electricity and some 2,200 GWh of district heat per year.
For more information, please contact:
‒ Managing Director Antti-Jussi Halminen, Tampereen Energiantuotanto Oy, tel. +358 40 801 6397
‒ Director Martti Savolainen, Vapo Oy, tel. +358 20 790 6474