Lithuanian Waste to Energy Facility Secures Funding
28 April 2011 The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) and Finnish energy company, Fortum have concluded a 70 million Euro loan agreement for a planned waste to energy plant in the Lithuanian city of Klaipeda. Fortum claims that its new combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Klaipeda will be the first waste to energy plant in the Baltic countries. The plant will be fuelled by municipal solid waste, non-hazardous industrial waste and biomass. The company says that the future output capacity is planned to be approximately 60 MW of district heat and 20 MW of electricity. "The NIB loan will contribute to introducing a state-of-the-art, efficient and environment-friendly heat and power production in Lithuania. This project is also a good example of cross-border cooperation between the Bank's member countries," says Johnny Åkerholm, President and CEO of NIB. The district heat produced at the plant will replace natural gas based heat production capacity. Switching to combined heat and power production will increase the efficiency of the energy production and decrease the greenhouse gas emissions in the region. The plant will also help reduce the disposal of waste in the local landfill. The CHP plant is being built by UAB Fortum Klaipeda, owned by Fortum and the local energy company Klaipedos Energija. The plant is expected to commence operations during the first quarter of 2013.