Vaskiluodon Voima Oy

The EUR 18 million loan has been provided for the construction of a gasification-based bioenergy plant in Vaasa, Finland. Vaskiluodon Voima is building the new plant in order to decrease the use of coal in energy production.

The new 140MW gasificaton-based bioenergy plant will be connected to the existing power plant and it is expected that the use of coal will be reduced by approximately 25%-40%. The new plant can use biomass-such as forest residues, reed and peat-as fuel. The estimated fuel demand will be acquired from the surrounding area, no more than 100 km from the power plant. The energy production capacity will stay at the current level.

Vaskiluodon Voima is a Mankala company, a unique ownership model for energy production companies developed in Finland. The purpose of the Mankala companies is to produce affordable energy for their owners. Vaskiluodon Voima is owned by EPV Energy Ltd. (50%) and Pohjolan Voima Oy (50%).

The project will reduce the amount of coal used in the production of district heat by 25%-40%. The emissions of greenhouse gases is expected to decrease by 230,000 tons of CO2 a year, out of which NIB’s financing contributes to approximately 100,000 t CO2 a year. At the same time as the emissions decrease, new jobs will be created, especially in fuel procurement.

Biomass gasification is a new technology developed in Finland which has not been used before on the scale now being planned. The current equipment is smaller and designed for dryer fuels. The project received the maximum amount of grant from the Ministry of Employment and Economy due to the innovative new technology being used for the first time in a large-scale project.

Both competiveness and environmental mandates are good.

Construction work is planned to begin in 2011 and the gasifier is estimated to be completed in autumn 2012. The entire project is an environmental investment and can be allocated under the CLEERE facility.