Wärtsilä to supply six BioPower plants to Germany

Wärtsilä has received an order for six turnkey biomass-fuelled power plants in April. The total value of the order is approximately EUR 100 million. The customer is the German-based company Bayernfonds BestEnergy 1 GmbH & Co. KG.

Construction is planned to start in July 2007, depending on the construction and operational permits being issued by the local authorities. It is anticipated that all six power plants have been completed towards the end of 2008.

“Wärtsilä’s BioPower solutions are ideally suited for the European market, which is strongly committed to the use of renewables”, commented Banmali Agrawala, Vice President of Wärtsilä’s Biomass business.

All six plants have an identical configuration, and will each have an electrical power output of 5.6 MWe. The plants will burn wood residues from local forests, and the electricity that they generate will be fed to the main grid.

Bayernfonds BestEnergy 1 GmbH & Co. KG is a unit trust company of Real I.S. AG, one of Germany’s biggest bank-related fund initiators and a wholly owned subsidiary of Bayerische Landesbank.

The commercial viability of the plants is supported by the German EEG law that was specifically created to promote investments in renewable energy.

“Wärtsilä Biomass-fuelled plants are clean and efficient. They are practical solutions for meeting need for renewable energy supplies with minimum environmental impact”, says Andreas Heibrock, member of the executive board of Real I.S. AG, enthusiastically. The plants incorporate patented Wärtsilä BioGrate combustion technology to burn biomass fuels with high combustion efficiency and low NOx and CO emissions. The moisture content of the fuel can be as high as 55%.

BioPower plants are highly modular, being based on well-proven standardised components with a reliable design approach. The plants can thus be delivered and installed quickly. Their proven technology results in a reliable, durable plant.

“With this product, Real I.S. demonstrates again in 2007 that it stands for innovative and trend-setting investment offers for private investors”, according to Andreas Heibrock.