The bioenergy adventures just don't stop! Went to Sandviksverket to see a 104 MW circulating fluid bed biomass boiler on a CHP plant that can chew through up to 50 tonnes of fuel per hour. 50% moisture (which seems to be standard). Right now it's running at 20 MW, because of recent warm weather. Much warmer and they will have to take it offline and start up a smaller, older one.

Lotta, the VEAB (check out http://www.veab.se/) chemical engineer who showed me around told me that they can keep it a constant 50% because the flora and fauna that make their home in the 6m pile of fuel compensate for the rain by using water. Sounds pretty technical. Well how's this for complicated then? Biomass boiler NO_x emissions across Sweden have been dropping, because the Swedish government say that those that have below average NOx emissions can get tax credits, paid for by those who have above average NOx emissions. The result - everyone races to be below the median, and total emissions drift down. Very Swedish policy. Last year VEAB earned SEK 3 million from the NOx they DIDN'T emit! Wonder who paid? They do this by using a catalyst.

Lotta posed for me in front of not one but two generators! Of the 104 MW capacity, 38 can be used for electricity. So they can sell when they want. The tax system is so strange (green certification) that sometimes it is even economic to burn wood to generate electricity to heat the water for the district scheme! Strange but true.....

  19/5/09

This morning I visited  JGA Wood, a sustainable sawmill.  The JGA plant is 30km from Växjö. Clas, a fourth generation member of JGA's family owners, met us.

The first thing that struck me was the huge area of logs, awaiting processing. Mainly spruce, with some pine. These log stacks look black from a distance - almost as though they have been creosoted! However, then you see the sprinklers over the top, spraying 24x7. By keeping the logs saturated, they can prevent decomposition and store them up to five years prior to milling. Clas said that it is only recently that they have processed the last of the Hurricane Gudrun windthrow. Gudrun, was the biggest storm in living Swedish memory and occurred in 2004. When I was here in 2007 there were still large areas of devastated forest visible all around.

 I arrived in Sweden last night but unfortunately my luggage didn't! With a 40 min connection in Frankfurt something had to give, I suppose. Never mind, after four hours sleep in Stockholm (thanks Michael and Paul) I was on the 05:20 a.m. to Växjö where I was greeted by my gracious guide Suzana from Växjö Kommun (council). First up we visited a district heating plant using 100% wood processing residue from a local sawmill.

Silve Piejko showed me around the plant. Silve is VP of the plant's manufacturer, Järnforsen Energi System AB, www.jf-energi.se.

Key facts about the plant: