Graanul Invest has signed a shares purchase agreement with German Pellets to acquire the Langerlo power generating plant in Flanders, Belgium. The coal-to-pellets conversion at the plant is to be completed by autumn 2018.
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Estonia-headed AS Graanul group, currently the largest pellet producer in Europe, has revealed that it has via its subsidiaries GI Energy Investments and GI Power Plants signed a shares purchase agreement with German Pellets Holding Belgium NV, to acquire the Langerlo power generating plant in Flanders, Belgium.
The 656 MW power station, previously owned by energy major E.ON prior to the German Pellets deal last year, consists of 86 MW gas-fired generating capacity and 470 MW coal-fired capacity.
Support measures in the form of green certificates have been appropriated in order to convert the coal-fired boilers to use wood pellets instead though the conversion must be completed by autumn 2018. The plant accounts for around 8 percent of the Flanders power supply.
I’m glad that a capable investor with solid experience in forestry, pellet production, logistics as well as in the energy industry has been found for this project. We hope that Graanul Invest group can bring this project to a successful conclusion, said Marc Rommens, Head of Langerlo power plant.
Though the price and conditions remain undisclosed, the “magnitude of investment” into converting the plant is said to be about EUR 250 million.
The Langerlo power plant project is a big step forward for our company. We’ve been looking for similar projects for a couple of years now. By carrying out this project I hope we can prove that using biomass sparingly is one of the best ways to make use of existing energy infrastructure. We plan to include all involved organizations and current plant workers to carry out the project successfully, commented Raul Kirjanen, Chairman of the Board at Graanul Invest.
