Metsä Group’s Äänekoski bioproduct mill receives a EUR 32 million investment subsidy for renewable energy
Metsä Group Press Release 2 April 2015
The Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy has granted Äänekoski bioproduct mill a EUR 32.1 million investment subsidy for renewable energy. If the prerequisites for the investment are met, the bioproduct mill investment decision will be made this spring.
The investment subsidy enables the use of highly advanced, high-risk energy technologies in, for instance, the recovery boiler and lime kiln equipment solutions. This will make the bioproduct mill the world’s most energy-efficient pulp mill, and the first to operate fully free from fossil fuels. The advanced technologies will also maximise bioenergy production and thus, increase the share of renewable energy in Finland by more than two percentage points. The implementation of new technologies will increase the electricity self-sufficiency of the mill to around 240 per cent, meaning that the mill will produce 2.4 times more electricity than it consumes. The mill will annually produce 1.8 TWh of electricity, which represents 2.5 per cent of the electricity produced in Finland.
METSÄ GROUP
Group Communications
More information:
Niklas von Weymarn, VP, Research at Metsä Fibre, tel. +358 40 547 6977, niklas.vonweymarn@metsagroup.com
www.metsagroup.com
Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products’ main raw material is renewable and sustainably grown northern wood. Metsä Group focuses on tissue and cooking papers, fresh forest fibre paperboards, pulp, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. Its high-quality products combine renewable raw materials, customer-orientation, sustainable development and innovation. Metsä Group’s sales totalled EUR 5 billion in 2014, and it employs approximately 10,500 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 122,000 Finnish forest owners.
www.metsafibre.com
Metsä Fibre is a world-leading producer of softwood pulp and its main brand is Botnia. Our products – sustainably and cost-efficiently produced softwood and birch pulp – are specially developed for the production of high-quality tissue and writing papers, speciality products, and board. With four pulp mills in Finland, we employ a total of about 850 people. Our sales in 2014 were approximately EUR 1.3 billion. Metsä Fibre is part of Metsä Group.