Energia-uutiset

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Lapuan Energia Oy’s Managing Director Ilkka Järvinen is satisfied: the power plant, which produces heat and electricity from domestic fuels, works as expected. to construct a plant which only produces heat in a town of this size.” Ilkka Järvinen emphasises that district heating represents local business while the sale of electricity also brings income from beyond the town. Electricity income accounts for about one fifth of the net sales of Lapuan Energia. Local expertise In addition to the fact that energy is produced in Lapua from local fuels, the new power plant features a wealth of local expertise. “The boiler was mainly manufactured in local engineering works in Lapua. Other devices were also found nearby. The conveyors were procured from Kauhajoki located some 80 kilometres away, and the ash handling system was purchased from Lehtimäki which lies 70 kilometres from Lapua. Of the main components, only the turbine, generator and electrostatic precipitator were made outside Finland,” Ilkka Järvinen says. The construction and commissioning of the CHP plant were more challenging than expected. These issues kept the small organisation busy. “The requirements imposed on the operating personnel are now substantially stricter than before. Previously, our only product was hot water, which was supplied directly to the district heating network. Now the product is superheated steam, which is first led to the generator which drives the turbine and further to the district heat exchanger,” Ilkka Järvinen states. 24 Peat boiler in reserve The distribution of district heat started in Lapua in 1979, provided by a thermal power station of 11 megawatts, which fired heavy fuel. A thermal power station of 7 megawatts, using peat as its main fuel, was commissioned in 1981. Lapuan Energia also used to acquire thermal energy from a local sawmill (up to 33 GWh/a). This was produced from the by-products of the sawing process: bark, sawdust and wood chips. The 30-year-old peat boiler is now in reserve, and it is used during peak consumption periods and when the new power plant is being maintained. Moreover, there a few oil-fired boiler plants in different parts of the town to secure the supply of district heat.
500 district heating customers The net sales of Lapuan Energia, which is fully owned by the Town of Lapua, were 4.3 million euros in 2010, and the number of personnel was 11. The company sold almost 70 gigawatt hours of district heat and 12 gigawatts hours of electricity. The approximately 56 kilometres long district heating network conveys heat to 500 customers, half of which are blocks of flats and single-family houses. However, a relatively larger portion of the district heat is supplied to public facilities – such as schools and the local hospital – and businesses. Lapua has 14,450 inhabitants, over half of whom live in the centre of the town. The vitality of the area is evidenced by the fact that the population has continued to grow over several years. Oil changed to district heating The sales of district heat by Lapuan Energia grew by 15 per cent in 2010. “Some of the sales increase came from the cold weather last year, but of course the competitive district heat still sells well anyway,” Ilkka Järvinen says. The market share of district heat in the centre of Lapua is already almost 80 per cent. In all, Lapuan Energia’s district heating customers have about 2 million cubic metres of heated space. Lapuan Energia, which has not paid dividends to its owner, has been able to keep the price of district heat at a reasonable level. It is slightly below average in the price statistics kept by Finnish Energy Industries. “Many residential buildings that were previously heated by oil have become users of district heat. Some areas with singlefamily houses, built in recent years, have also been connected to the district heating network.” Ilkka Järvinen says that geothermal energy is the second main heating option for builders. Fuel from the surrounding area The Lapua CHP plant obtains 96 per cent of its fuel from the surrounding area. The power plant still uses twice as much peat as wood chips, but the share of wood chips is being raised systematically. The goal is half peat and half wood. The power plant uses Finnish expertise building CHP plants Increased use of biofuels in energy production has brought more orders to suppliers of equipment in the industry. The Nordic market leader MW Power exports Finnish know-how employed in small and medium-sized power plants also to other European countries. “The EU’s objectives to increase the use of renewable energy sources are boosting the market.” MW Power’s Product Line Director Olli Elo says that new power plants are constructed again after the recession caused by the financial crisis. “MW Power is currently involved in the construction of the new 43 megawatt CHP approx. 100 gigawatt hours worth of fuel per year. About 4 per cent of this is oil, and there is also some reed canary grass. In cold winter days, at least five trucks arrive at the power plant daily, each carrying some 130 cubic metres of peat or wood chips. “Basically, the power plant would only need to use wood chips as the fuel. However, since the calorific value of peat is better than that of wood, it would be good if at least 20 to 30 per cent of the fuel input in a fluidised bed boiler is peat. This prevents the fouling of the boiler,” Ilkka Järvinen says. Feed-in tariff does not help Ilkka Järvinen expects that the EU will soon accept the measures carried out in Finland last year to promote the use of renewable energy. He also expects that the subsidy given to wood chips derived from forests will improve profitability. “It is just that the fixed subsidy should be higher than the subsidy paid earlier. On the other hand, the feed-in tariff for electricity, which is included in the energy package accepted by the Finnish Parliament, seems difficult in practice. It contains so many variables that its utilisation by a small power producer such as we is complex and difficult.” He refers to the experiences of a small organisation of the verification and obligations of emissions trading. He thinks that the feed-in tariff will mean even more work to the personnel of the energy company than what emissions trading does. plant in Porvoo in Finland, using renewable fuel. We are supplying the boiler section of the plant for Porvoon Energia Oy.” The Multipower product line headed by Olli Elo also designs and builds tailor-made power plant solutions on a turnkey basis. MW Power is owned by Metso Power (60%) and Wärtsilä (40%). It accumulated net sales of more than 100 million euros in 2010. MW Power has ongoing power plant projects in Belgium, Estonia and Latvia, too. The company has also contributed to biomass power plants built in recent years in Finland (Keuruu), Germany and Sweden. Great variations Ilkka Järvinen does not consider that Lapuan Energia could increase its electricity generation capacity significantly. “This would absolutely require an increase in the sales of heat, which would mean that we should have a new major client, an industrial plant which uses much process heat. There is nothing like that in sight.” He points out that the demand for district heat varies considerably from one season of the year to another. “In the summer, district heating customers only need about one tenth of the peak consumption of the year. Since the heat has no other uses apart from heating buildings, an auxiliary cooler is needed at small loads.” It must be noted that a CHP plant produces most electricity in the winter when the district heating load is also the greatest and when there is much demand for electricity. In the name of climate emissions, district heating has been imposed cost-raising elements such as emissions trading and the energy tax of peat. Ilkka Järvinen says that you just have to cope with these. “One cause for concern is the fact that there are less and less practical uses for the ash created in incineration. At least it can be used to some extent as a forest fertiliser and in earth construction. There is no point in taking it to the landfill.” zx 25
Page 1 and 2: CHP and district heating in Finland
Page 3 and 4: ISSN 1237-6388 EDITORIAL STAFF Jari
Page 5 and 6: Text by Markku Niskanen Osmo Soinin
Page 7 and 8: Marja Airio/Lehtikuva ances solve t
Page 9 and 10: Text by Petri Sallinen Natural gas
Page 11 and 12: Kaukaan Voima Oy • 385 MWth Bioma
Page 13 and 14: Tero Sivula/Dreamstime.com I n acco
Page 15 and 16: Tougher fuel taxes in Finland Text
Page 17 and 18: Text by Markku Niskanen Low2No Low-
Page 19 and 20: Towards carbon-neutral production A
Page 21 and 22: energy efficiency in CHP is over 90
Page 23: Lapuan Energia Oy’s power plant i
Page 27 and 28: Espoo CHP Power Plant Computer room
Page 29 and 30: Mikko Ruotsalainen of Porvoon Energ
Page 31 and 32: Flue gas scrubbers for many purpose
Page 33 and 34: Veli-Pekka Sirola The thickness of
Page 35 and 36: Interest towards China “Helsinki

Energia-uutiset

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?