OULUN ENERGIA CHP PLANT

The project consists of the financing of a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) biomass-fired plant in Finland of a capacity of 70 MWe (electric) and 175 MWth (heat and steam) to replace an existing solid fuel (peat and biomass) plant.

The investment is done to meet the requirements of the Industrial Emissions Directive and the project is part of the Transitional National Plan by which the existing plant can continue operation until June 2020. The entire electricity produced by the plant will be cogenerated at high efficiency as defined by the EU directives.

With a thermal capacity below 300 MWth, the project does not fall under Annex 1 of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 2014/52/EU which amends Directive 92/2011/EU, thereby, adhering to Annex 2 of the said Directive and Finnish EIA law, leaving it to the competent authority to decide if an EIA is required. However, the plant was initially planned at larger capacity with an integrated biorefinery and was screened by the competent authority. Thus, an EIA has been provided in January 2014. The project is also subject to the provisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU. A public consultation has taken place as part of the process but the environmental permit is pending.

The promoter is a public undertaking in the utility sector that follows public procurement procedures as required by Directive 2014/25/EU. Procurement for the project has started with publications in the Official Journal of the European Union.