Fortum inaugurates new waste-to-energy combined heat and power plant in Sweden

Fortum has taken into use a new unit at the Brista combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Sigtuna, Stockholm.

The new power plant unit, Brista 2, produces district heat for local residents and electricity for the Nordic power market from sorted municipal and industrial waste. Brista power plant’s older unit, Brista 1, produces district heat and electricity from biomass. The new power plant unit was inaugurated today, 29 November, by Sweden’s Minister for the Environment Lena Ek.

Brista 2 will use 240,000 tonnes of waste per year, which is equivalent to the amount of municipal waste generated in the Stockholm area. Using sorted waste in energy production offers a sustainable and cost-efficient alternative for energy and waste management needs.

Fortum has long experience in utilising waste in energy production at the Högdalen CHP plant in Stockholm where municipal waste has been combusted since 1970. Earlier this year, Fortum commissioned the first waste-fired combined heat and power plant in the Baltics in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and biomass-fired CHP plants in Järvenpää, Finland, and Jelgava, Latvia.

“Brista 2 is already the fourth CHP plant we have commissioned this year in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Combined heat and power production is at the core of our strategy, and whenever possible we utilise renewable and local fuels,” says Per Langer, Executive Vice President of Fortum’s Heat Division.

Production capacity of the new Brista plant unit is 60 megawatts (MW) heat and 20 MW electricity. The annual heat production, about 500 gigawatt-hours (GWh), corresponds to the annual heating needs of about 50,000 mid-sized homes. The estimated annual electricity production of Brista 2 is 140 GWh. Fortum co-owns the plant (85%) together with the municipal energy company Sollentuna Energi (15%).

Source: http://www.fortum.com