Norway-headed advanced pellet producer Arbaflame AS has announced that it is investing EUR 20 million in its first commercial full-scale facility for the production of its patented advanced wood pellets.“We are now building our first full-scale factory. This marks that we are industrially in the process of being a fully-fledged alternative to the coal-fired power plants in the world looking for a carbonless and bio-based energy solution,” says Bjørn Halvard Knappskog, CEO of Arbaflame.
Using Norwegian-developed technology, the new facility will be located at Grasmo outside of Oslo and will have an annual production capacity of 70 000 tonnes of advanced wood pellets with coal-like properties.
For us, it has therefore been important that the world’s first factory be built in Norway, both because it gives us valuable proximity to the project and expertise, but also because the technology was actually invented and developed here, said Bjørn Halvard Knappskog.
Arbaflame’s steam-treated pellets have virtually the same properties as coal, are water-resistant, and have high energy density. The special properties mean that the cost of converting the coal power plant is significantly reduced, which is a great advantage compared to conventional wood pellets (aka white pellets).
The entire production will be supplied to the French energy major Engie for its coal-fired power plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands as announced just days prior.
Arbaflame has already conducted successful tests at 15 coal-fired power stations around the world and recently received EUR 19 million in EU funding through the Horizon 2020 program to establish a demonstration facility at the same power plant in Rotterdam.
It is a victory for the Norwegian forest industry and its renewable aims that, with Norwegian feedstock produced at our new factory, we will reduce CO2 emissions at the coal-fired power plant in Rotterdam by approximately 140 000 tonnes a year, said Bjørn Halvard Knappskog.
The new Grasmo plant will cost EUR 20 million to build and Arbaflame has received EUR 8 million in funding from Enova, a government agency under the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment.
We are now facing an industrial race with the establishment of several factories in the years to come. We have a mutual intention with Engie to get up to 200 000 tonnes of delivery as quickly as possible, and then gradually increase to a capacity of up to 1.8 million tonnes, which is the amount needed for 100 percent renewable conversion, ended Bjørn Halvard Knappskog.
