Finland’s largest biomass plant has been inaugurated by the country’s environment minister Paula Lehtomäki.
Kaukaan Voima Oy’s power plant, located at UPM’s Kaukas mill, has been fully operational since last November, with the cold winter making it possible to test the plant at maximum capacity.
The €244m plant will annually consume about 20,000 truck loads of fuel, including bark, branches, tree tops, stumps, small dimension wood and peat. Only wood which cannot be used for higher-grade purposes is being used.
The facility will generate 385MW of thermal power and 12MW of electricity.
“The fuel supply for the plant is based on long-term agreements ensuring stability for the pricing of energy products,” said Jukka Kiuru, managing director of Kaukaan Voima.
“In the future, the plant will replace a significant part of the energy previously generated using natural gas by UPM and Lappeenrannan Energia.”
