Sweden-based developer and provider of organic rankine cycle (ORC) technology Againity AB has announced that it has been selected by compatriot district energy provider Solör Bioenergi Group to provide two more of their heating plants with ORC turbines for local electricity production from biomass. This time at the slightly larger biomass heating plants in Svenljunga and Vilhelmina.
Solör Bioenergi Group is a leading Scandinavian bioenergy services provider and operates local biomass-fired district heating plants in over 137 locations, primarily in Sweden but also Norway after its acquisition of Pemco Energi in March 2018.
Together with Againity, Solör Bioenergi decided in the spring of 2018 to upgrade its Hörby biomass heat plant to a cogeneration plant to both reduce energy costs and contribute to more renewable and weather-independent electricity production in a region suffering from a growing lack of local and reliable baseload power.
Hörby ORC a success
After a year of electricity production in Hörby, Solör Bioenergi now chooses to continue installing ORC turbines. A steam boiler in Svenljunga and a hot water boiler in Vilhelmina are to be provided with ORC turbines in 2020 with an installed power of 315 kW and 250 kW respectively.
locally. This is just the beginning. In the future we will see ORC turbines on several more of our heating
plants,” said Nicklas Eld, Regional Manager, Solör Bioenergi Väst (photo courtesy Adam Leitzler).
After these installations, Solör Bioenergi will be contributing with about 2.6 GWh of green baseload power every year from their three small-scale power plants. This corresponds to a reduction of 2 360 tonnes of fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year, by replacing coal-fired power from the European electricity grid.
The hot water boiler in Vilhelmina will be the first in the region of Norrland, Sweden, with a small-scale cogeneration plant, but probably not the last.
According to Againity, there are still 400 heat plants in Sweden that lack electricity generation, since previously available technology has not been cost-effective enough other than for the largest heating plants.
It feels good that the technology is being developed so that small-scale electricity generation can be applied in district heating production here in Vilhelmina. This means that we become more self-sufficient and our production becomes even more climate neutral, while at the same time reducing the electricity and power requirements in our local electricity networks, said Tore Sundqvist, Regional Manager Solör Bioenergi Nord.
With the new ORC technology from Againity, more and more Scandinavian cities and companies are choosing to supplement their hot water and steam boilers to reduce electricity costs and at the same take steps towards set energy and climate goals. Adam Leitzler
