POWER November 2011 - 66

POWER IN thE NORdIc REgION
Anja Silvennoinen, Energy and Pulp
Business Group, Senior Vice President, UPM
biomass-based CHP plants that produce heat
for its factories and electricity for the market.
" Over the last 10 years, " said Anja Silvennoinen,
UPM's senior vice president for the
energy business area, " we have invested over
€1 billion in these biomass-based CHP plants
in Europe. "
UPM is now the second-largest biomass3.
Gas-fired. This combined-cycle plant in
Macedonia is similar to many ÅF Group has
built in Europe. Courtesy: ÅF Group
based electricity generator in Europe. The
group is also looking for opportunities in the
biofuel production business. " We have been
developing the technology for some years, "
added Silvennoinen. " Now we have applied
for the EU's NER300 grants for a BTL biorefinery
from Finland and France. Both applications
have been passed on to the next step,
to the European Investment Bank. "
In the long term, UPM aims at " leading the
integration of the bio and forestry industries
into a new, sustainable and innovation-driven
biofore industry. " Other pulp and paper players,
such as Stora Enso, the world's secondlargest
paper producer, are following this
example. Alongside Neste Oil, Stora Enso
set up NSE Biofuels, opened a demonstration
plant, and is now deciding on the feasibility
of a 200,000-metric ton biowax facility.
This deep diffusion of CHP technologies
Jørgen Claussen, Chairman of Danfoss
and Chairman of the Danish Energy Industries'
Federation
has been driving the development of exportable
capabilities. " In the last 20 years, " said
Aero Auranne, president for the energy division
of the technical consulting company ÅF
Group, " most of the schemes implemented
in Finland have been based on some form of
CHP. All of them have required some special
applications-difficult fuels such as biofuels,
waste, and so on. These applications require
a lot of engineering inputs. Due to this, we
have been forced to develop our knowledge
in this field and later on, this enabled us to
springboard our know-how to neighboring
countries, further down to Europe and, increasingly,
to South Asia as well. "
ÅF played a major role in the building
Finnish pulp and paper manufacturers
(two out of three of the world's biggest paper
producers are from Finland) are leading
these technology developments. Through
biomass-based combined heat and power
plants (CHP) they are increasingly using
the residues of pulp and paper production to
generate energy. The electricity is then used
to meet their own requirements in the highly
energy-intensive pulp and paper industry or
sold into the Nord Pool market or to other
industrial players.
UPM, a Finnish pulp, paper, and timber
manufacturer that employs 22,000 people in
15 countries around the globe, has built 12
66
of several CHP plants in Europe (Figure
3). Apart from its activity in the local market,
the company acted as the engineering,
procurement, and construction management
contractor for projects in Estonia and Germany.
Furthermore, it recently announced
the closing of a major consultancy contract
in Workington, England. The Swedish pulp
and paper group, Holmin, will invest 1.1 billion
krona ($169 million) in a new CHP plant
there, and ÅF has been appointed lead technical
consultant for the project.
Energy Efficiency
Politicians like to be able to point to a brand
new wind farm to burnish their green credentials.
This focus on renewable power generation
is reflected in government initiatives,
from the EU 2020 Plan down to the national
www.powermag.com
action plans. However, it must not be forgotten
that how efficiently a country uses energy
is just as important as how it produces it.
" The big challenge " as Rikard Appelgren,
managing director of WSP Europe, pointed
out, " is that 80% of the buildings that we
will have in 50 years have already been built.
Compared to the savings in energy efficiency
that can be made in these buildings, new
energy production from renewable sources
is still very small. Especially in Sweden,
where we already have a very high proportion
of renewable sources in our energy generation,
it will be impossible to achieve the
government's ambitions through new energy
production alone. WSP is trying to show our
clients the cost benefit of improving our use
of energy. "
The Nordic countries have an admirable
record in this field. The " Danish Model, "
whereby Denmark's economy has grown
by 78% while energy consumption has remained
stable and carbon dioxide emissions
have dropped, is garnering enviable attention
from the international community. A Green
Growth Alliance signed between South Korea
and Denmark during the visit of President
Lee Myung-bak earlier this year is an
example of this interest, allowing a sharing
of capabilities and trade between the two
countries.
Jørgen Claussen, chairman of Danfoss and
chairman of the Danish Energy Industries'
Federation, explained the primary reasons
for the success of the Danish Model as follows:
" Firstly, we converted our coal-fired
plants into combined heat and power plants.
Secondly, we have strict regulation about insulation,
thermostats, and the construction of
new buildings, leading to lower energy consumption
per capita. Finally, over the last 25
years Denmark has allocated a lot of funding
to research and development, especially in
the field of wind turbines. "
The first of these reasons should be of particular
interest to the international community.
Converting a typical coal plant (at least
one that is sited near a large commercial, industrial,
or residential customer base that can
use the heat) into a combined heat and power
plant can drastically increase its efficiency.
The record for a coal-fired power plant is currently
held by BWE, whose ultrasupercritical
boilers can reach 47% efficiency, compared
to the European average of 38% (Figure 4).
Utilize the waste heat from this to feed into a
district heating system and the efficiency can
shoot past 85%.
" Denmark cannot afford to lose this ultrasupercritical
coal technology simply because
the country's policies are changing direction, "
stated Michele Passini, CEO of BWE,
a Danish company now operating under STF.
POWER | November 2011
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POWER November 2011

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