In Latvia, Adven Group, a leading provider of energy and water solutions in the Nordic and Baltic countries, has announced that its subsidiary Adven Lativa has commissioned a new biomass-fired heat plant in Valmiera.
Adven Latvia and Valmiera City Council’s co-owned corporation JSC Valmieras Enerģija generates up to 84 percent of the thermal energy used in Valmiera’s district heating, which the heating operator LTD Valmieras ūdens supplies to buildings on the left and right banks of the River Gauja.
Adven Latvia currently owns 52.15 percent of the shares in JSC Valmieras Enerģija, while the remaining 47.85 percent are owned by Valmiera City Council.
EU co-financed
Co-financed by the European Union Cohesion Fund, the approximately EUR 6 million investment was officially opened in Valmiera on October 14, 2020.
Over 90 percent of district heating will be produced from renewable energy resources. With the new boiler house, fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will be reduced by approximately 10,000 tonnes per annum.
This is an important project for Valmiera, and the new boiler house will ensure that Valmiera’s energy supply stands in a sustainable future, commented Valmiera City Council Chairman Jānis Baiks during the opening.
Biomass-fired
Utilizing woodchips, the new 9 MW bioheat plant is equipped with technologies, which ensure high energy efficiency and automated, environmentally friendly operations including a 1.5 MW flue gas condenser.
Our goal is to create environmentally friendly, resource-efficient, and sustainable energy solutions, and the new biofuel boiler house is a great example of this. By using various technologies, we have created a thermal energy generation system, which is less dependent on fossil fuels and facilitates a more stable and predictable heating tariff. The stabilization of the heating tariff was one of the main tasks in implementing the boiler house construction project, explained Māris Kānītis, CEO of Adven Latvia.
Local resources
The new bioheat plant started operations during this heating season. Several entrepreneurs from the Valmiera region were involved in its construction including MONUM, a Latvian-headed civil- and industrial construction company.
The new woodchip boiler house is a significant project for Valmiera, which ensures the compliance of the city’s heating system with the environmental requirements of the European Union. It will not only provide the residents of the right bank of the Gauja River with heat supply but also protect the environment. In addition, the boiler house has been built on a previously degraded area, thereby contributing to the development of the surrounding infrastructure, said Kaspars Brencis, Construction Project Manager at MONUM, emphasizing the added-value of the project.
The new bioheat plant will continue to strengthen the local economy by providing local entrepreneurs the opportunity to supply woodchips.
Even though we know that energy production is one of the biggest environmental impactors, we at Adven, have taken the clear approach that we want to be part of the solution to climate change. The new Valmiera boiler house is clearly one great step in the right direction. By converting from fossil fuels to biofuels, we will reduce CO2 emissions and provide a more stable, affordable heat price for the local people. Such investments are of great interest to Adven, and in Latvia, we have already found many companies, where the same journey and example of Valmiera could be followed. Of course, these projects can only happen if the interests of the involved parties align. We are happy that Adven’s story in Latvia started in Valmiera because green and more efficient energy production has been the core value of the municipality. We found excellent partners to carry out this project, said Urmo Heinam, CEO of Adven Baltic.
