NORDFUEL BIOREFINERY SECOND GENERATION BIOFUELS

The project will finance (i) the upgrade of the condensing power plant to a Combined heat and power (CHP) plant (ii) a greenfield advanced bioethanol plant (iii) a greenfield biogas plant and (iv) ancillary equipment.

The CHP plant aims at co-combusting fossil and renewable feedstocks during a transition period. The fossil feedstock shall be progressively phased out. The whole project is in line with the principles and goals of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II 2018/2001/EU, supporting the production of advanced biofuels from forest residues and sawmill by-products (RED, Annex IX, part A).

Compliance with the environmental legislation (notably the Environmental Impact Assessemnt (EIA) directive 2014/52/EU amending the EIA Directive 2011/92/EU) will be assessed during appraisal, as well as well compliance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) directive 2010/75/EU.  The EIA for the new complex (bioethanol & biogas production) was performed in 2017. The environmental permit approval should be received in early 2020.  Concerning the upgrade of the power plant from electricity only to a CHP, the EIB will ensure that the project is aligned with the EIB new threshold for GHG emissions, as well as with the RED 2018/2001/EU.

Based on the information provided, the promoter has been identified as a privately owned entity operating in the utility sector, that has not been granted special or exclusive rights and does not operate in markets which are not liberalised. The procurement regime will be assessed during appraisal.