In Sweden, Solör Bioenergi Group, a leading Scandinavian player in renewable wood-based energy, has revealed plans to build a new biomass-fired heat plant in the municipality of Ale. Solör has supplied district heating in the municipality for several years, and the new plant will be able to supply around 2,000 average-sized homes with bioheat from the 2027-2028 heating season.
Solör Bioenergi develops and supplies energy solutions based on biofuels, mainly from residual products from the forest industry and recycled wood.
Its operations are located at around 300 sites in Sweden and Norway, and the Group supplies energy in the form of heat, power, and process steam to around 900,000 users every day.
In addition to energy solutions, the operations also include technical systems for water, with a focus on long-term operation and function.
Own district heat plant
Solör Bioenergi has been supplying district heating to just over 1,000 customers in Ale since 2022. Solör owns the district heating network and currently buys the heat from other heat producers.
We currently do not have our own baseload production of district heating in Ale. With this investment, we want to be able to provide residents and businesses in the municipality with district heating from a biomass-fired plant that we own and operate. This creates better conditions for a stable and long-term district heating supply to Ale citizens, said Nils Svensson, regional manager of Solör Bioenergi.
The new plant will cover most of the heating needs during the year, but Solör will also continue to buy some heat from other heat plants. The new heat plant will be run at full capacity during the colder periods of the year.
When the heat demand is lower, recovered residual heat is used instead.
We are constantly working to find long-term, sustainable, and resource-efficient solutions for our district heating production. Therefore, we will continue to buy some heat from other available heat sources that would otherwise be lost, explained Nils Svensson.
New plant in Häljered
The new plant is being built in Häljered, between Älvängen and Alafors in Ale municipality. There is already an oil-fired backup boiler on site that will continue to be used in the event of disruptions or downtime.
The plant is expected to produce around 40 GWh of heat annually, per year, which is equivalent to heating around 2,000 average-sized single-family homes. The boiler will be fired with woodchips and have an output of 8 MWth.
At the same time as we build the new boiler, we are also installing a flue gas condenser to increase efficiency and extract as much heat as possible from the wood chips. Thanks to the flue gas condenser, the output will be able to increase to 9.5 MW, Nils Svensson said.
The flue gases from the plant will be cleaned using an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) to meet today’s stringent requirements when burning biomass fuel.
The goal is for the plant to be operational in the autumn of 2027, in time for the 2027-2028 heating season.
Groundworks are planned to begin this summer, with construction of the new heat plant slated for autumn 2026. The value of the investment has not been disclosed.
