District heating plant in Aneby places order for Opcon Powerbox for production of green electricity
Opcon, the energy and environmental technology Group, today received an order for a steam-powered version of Opcon Powerbox to be used in the production of green electricity. As a result, a district heating plant can be converted into a combined heat and power plant. The customer is POB Energi, which operates the district heating plant in Aneby, Sweden and which, among other prizes, was given the environmental award by Aneby municipality in 2009. By installing Opcon Powerbox, the district heating plant in Aneby, Sweden, will complement its production of 21.8 GWh of heating from a 5 MW boiler with production of 3.2 GWh of electricity, which corresponds to the electricity consumption of 500-600 households. At the same time the plant is switching to 100 per cent renewable energy and has invested in an additional biofuel boiler to replace an existing small oil-powered boiler for production of an extra 4.7 GWh of heating per year, which will enable a future production total of 26.5 GWh of heating and 3.2 GWh of electricity. “With our Opcon Powerbox technology we can create profitable business for district heating plants. Despite having fewer operating hours than an industrial plant and using primary energy, they can expect to see a payback within a couple of years. Even so, district heating plants are just the tip of the iceberg. Opportunities for applications in the process industry and maritime sector are many times greater in Sweden alone,” says Rolf Hasselström, President and CEO of Opcon AB. “This is also an excellent example of our strategic investment in bioenergy. Opcon is emerging as one of the leading players in Sweden. POB Energi is a customer with strict demands and large ambitions concerning improving energy efficiency and its environmental impact. They have already invested in flue gas condensation equipment from Opcon that has boosted energy efficiency of the plant by over 20 per cent depending on the fuel. Now we’re helping them to produce green electricity too,” says Rolf Hasselström, President and CEO of Opcon AB. “We have good experience of Opcon’s products for improving energy efficiency. Opcon’s new technology enables small district heating plants such as ours to complement in a profitable way heating production with production of green electricity and thus contribute to reducing Sweden’s dependence on oil. We have also been able to replace a small oil-powered boiler with a boiler powered by chips so that we can produce 100 per cent renewable heating and electricity. Overall we are expanding the amount of renewable energy by around 20 per cent,” says Lars-Åke Persson, CEO and owner of POB Energi. According to official statistics from the Swedish District Heating Association, in Sweden alone there are 66 district heating networks with boilers without combined heat and power in the range of 21-80 GWh (total of around 2.35 TWh) and 40 district heating networks in the range of 11-20 GWh (total of around 0.65 TWh) of heating. The installation will be made on a 5 MW steam boiler where saturated steam is used to power the plant. Delivery will take place during 2010.
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