EIB supports construction of Kilpilahti power plant with EUR 175m loan
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided a EUR 175m long-term loan for the construction of a new industrial combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Kilpilahti that will supply heat to the oil refinery and chemicals plant on the same site. Being built in accordance with the latest environmental regulations, including the European Industrial Emissions Directive, the new CHP plant is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% compared to the current situation.
EIB Vice-President Jan Vapaavuori said: “The European Investment Bank strongly promotes energy efficiency and security of energy supply. Therefore, we are glad to foster the construction of the Kilpilahti power plant, which will offer long-term sustainable support to the largest concentration of oil refinery and petrochemical industries in the Nordic region. The new plant will not only produce electricity and heat with higher efficiency and lower environmental impact, but also ensure a reliable supply of heat to on-site industrial consumers.”
The new power generating plant is located 40 km east of Helsinki within the industrial area of Kilpilahti, the site for an oil refinery and petrochemical industries. It will serve the heat demand of this area and provide electricity to the grid. Four new steam and power generation assets will have an installed capacity of 450 megawatt thermal and 30 megawatt electrical power.
These highly efficient units will replace the old ones, improving their environmental performance, and make use of industrial side streams (such as asphaltene) that would not otherwise be recovered for energy generation. This is a good example of resource optimisation, since more than 80% of the fuels that will be used in the new power plant are side streams from the customers’ own processes. Current gaseous emissions will be reduced by enhanced combustion technology and cleaned with best available technologies to comply with future emission standards. The new power plant is expected to become operational during 2018.
The project is being developed as a joint venture between Borealis and Neste, which both have operations in Kilpilahti’s industrial area, as well as Veolia, an experienced energy service company. The latter is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the power plant. The total investment value is around EUR 400m. Besides the EIB, Borealis, Neste and Veolia, the project is also being financed by the Nordic Investment Bank, BTMU, ING, Nordea, SEB and UniCredit.
