Nelja Energia, the leading producer of wind power in the Baltic States, opened its first co-generation plant and pellet factory in Broceni, Latvia.
The total cost of the investment is around 30 million euros. The cogeneration plant and pellet factory create 35 jobs.
According to Martin Kruus, the Chairman of the Management Board of Nelja Energia AS, the pellet business and the combined heat and power production are a new area of activity for the company, but the tests and the initiation period of the pellet factory and the cogeneration plant were passed with success.
"Nelja Energia is mainly known as the biggest producer of wind power in the Baltic states, but we can now announce our expansion, which is the first cogeneration plant powered by chipped wood and also our first pellet factory in Latvia. Cooperation with the partners and also the local team has been great and we are satisfied with the investment," commented Kruus on the growth of the energy company and thanked UPB, Hekotek, Inspecta and other partners for good cooperation.
The planned annual production of the modern pellet factory is at least 120,000 tonnes of pellets. The plant is supplied with energy by the cogeneration plant working with biofuel, which has thermal power of 19.4 MW and electrical power of 3.98 MW. The annual estimated electricity production of the cogeneration plant is 30,000 MWh.
According to Toms Naburgs, head of 4 Energia SIA, Broceni CHP and Pellet plant is state of the art facility utilizing the latest technological solutions thus ensuring superior production quality and efficiency. Fuel for the cogeneration plant is sourced from the surplus bark and chipped wood from the pellet production process ensuring zero waste production. "To be very efficient and eco-friendly the CHP has a flue-gas cleaner which provides an additional 4MW of heat," said Naburgs.
Nelja Energia started the test production of pellets in the beginning of the current year. By today, the tests have been passed
successfully and the first orders have been delivered. Most of the plant's production is exported to the European market. The cogeneration plant has passed all the network tests required in Latvia and the power is sent to Nordic and Baltic power market.
The pellet factory is managed by Pellet 4energia SIA and the cogeneration plant by Technological Solution SIA. Both of them are Latvian subsidiaries of Nelja Energia.
Nelja Energia, based on Northern European and Estonian capital, is the biggest producer and developer of wind power in the Baltic states. The company has wind farms in three Baltic states with a total capacity of 280 MW and, in addition to the wind farms, also has two biogas plants in Estonia.
Company assets are worth more than 400 million euros. The newest projects of Nelja Energia are the 60 MW wind farm in Silute, Lithuania, with a total investment of more than 100 million euros, the cogeneration plant and pellet factory in Latvia with a total investment of 30 million euros, and the 7.05 MW expansion of Tooma wind farm in Estonia with a total investment of 11.5 million euros.