The start of construction of the new plant - Cogéneration Biomasse de Novillars (CBN) - took place Monday 5 December. The ground breaking ceremony was performed at the site of the Gemdoubs paper mill in Doubs, in the region Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, where the new CHP plant will be situated.
The plant consists of fuel handling, AET Biomass Boiler, steam turbine, flue-gas cleaning system and steam connection to Gemdoubs. It has a fuel heat input of 63 MWth, an electrical capacity of 20 MWe and thermal energy of 23.5 MWth. The cogeneration plant will be highly optimised in order to fulfil the requirements set by the French government in the CRE 4 auction round, and will therefore have an overall efficiency of more than 65%. It will be equipped with the advanced AET- Combustion technology and AET SNCR DeNOx system, which will ensure very low level of emissions.
Green energy produced from locally sourced wood
The CBN plant will be located at the site of the Gemdoubs paper mill. It will supply steam to the paper mill for its production process, in which waste paper is recycled and used for producing cardboard boxes and packaging material. The biomass-fired cogeneration plant will generate 153 GWh/year of green electricity equivalent to the annual consumption of 105,600 people and 215,000 tonnes of steam, which previously was produced using fossil fuels.
CBN benefits from the abundance of wood in the vicinity, and the wood used as fuel will be sourced within a radius of 100 km from the plant, thereby also creating work in the local wood supply industry.
An investment of € 87 million
The construction costs of the CBN plant of € 87 million euros, has been financed through a non-recourse loan. A banking pool, consisting of a number of different banks, has financed the senior debt and other investors have financed the mezzanine and the equity capital. Among the banks is Natixis Energéco while Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations did fund the project company at the mezzanine level and also in equity. Both Natixis Energéco and Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations already participated in the financing of the previous 2 biomass plants made by Akuo Energy.
The capital of CBN is divided between the following investors Akuo Energy (Néréa), Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation, CAM Energie, Gemdoubs and Crédit Agricole Franche-Comté Investissements.
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