Wärtsilä BioPower in the Ardennes, Belgium

Wärtsilä Corporation, Trade press release 20 January 2006 at 14:00 UTC+2

Wärtsilä Corporation has won a contract in November to supply the Belgian company Renogen SA with a biomass-fuelled combined heat and power plant for installation in the municipality of Amel in the Ardennes area of Belgium. The new plant will have a net electrical power output of 3.29 MWe, and a thermal output of 10 MWth for district heating. The electrical output in condense mode operation is 5,3 MWe.

Wärtsilä will supply a BioPower 5 CEX plant which will burn wood residues from the local forestry industry. In addition Wärtsilä is supplying a 12 MWth oil-fuelled boiler. The Amel plant will deliver hot water to two local factories, while the electricity generated will be fed to the mains grid. It is due to be handed over in January 2007. The plant is supported by financial aid from the Belgian government for producing electricity from renewable sources.

Wärtsilä’s biomass-fuelled plants are clean and efficient. They are practical solutions for meeting needs for renewable energy supplies with minimum environmental impact. They 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%. The SOx emissions of such wood-fuelled plants are negligible. The fly ash is removed from the flue gases in an electrostatic filter.

The BioPower plant operates on a closed steam water cycle separate from the hot water system. Superheated steam is generated in an efficient water-tube boiler, and supplied to a high-efficiency reaction-type condensing extraction steam turbine driving an alternator. Hot water is heated by steam extracted from the turbine.

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

Notes to the editor:

Wärtsilä is a leading provider of power plants, operation and lifetime care services in decentralized power generation.

The company provides power plants for baseload, intermediate, peaking, standby and combined heat and power applications as well as solutions for oil pumping. The product range comprises gas- and oil-fired power plants with outputs from 1 MW to 300 MW, biopower plants with outputs from 1 to 5 MWe and biothermal plants for 3–17 MWth

Wärtsilä is The Ship Power Supplier for builders, owners and operators of vessels and offshore installations. Our own global service network takes complete care of customers’ ship machinery at every lifecycle stage.

www.wartsila.com

For further information, please contact:

Maria Nystrand
Public Relations Manager, Power Plants
Wärtsilä Finland Oy
Direct tel: +358 10 709 1456
Direct fax: +358 10 709 1425
e-mail: maria.nystrand@wartsila.com
Internet: www.wartsila.com