April 2, 2012

The Sustainability Forum has chosen Lahti Energia’s new Kymijärvi II gasification plant as the winner of the Climate Action of the Year award. Innovativeness and project reproducibility were the reasons behind the award. Also, the international attention that the project has garnered and its potential as a new Finnish cleantech export product were contributing factors.

Lahti Energia’s Kymijärvi II is presumably the first gasification power plant in the world to efficiently generate electricity and district heat from recycled fuels. The recycled fuel, made from energy-containing waste, is first gasified, then the gas is purified and after this the resulting clean ecogas is combusted in an ordinary natural gas boiler.

Once completed in the spring of 2012, Lahti Energia’s power plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 410.000 tons a year compared to the same amount of electricity and heat generated using coal. In addition, the commissioning of the new power plant will reduce the utilization of Lahti Energia’s old coal-fired power plant and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 230.000 tons a year.

Climate Action of the Year is an acknowledgement accorded annually by the Finnish Energy Industries to an energy industry company or organization that has carried out investments or development projects to abate climate change or has, through other actions, contributed to combating climate change.

Read whole article: http://www.metso.com/corporation/articles_eng.nsf/WebWID/WTB-120402-2256F-676A6?OpenDocument