The biomass investment in Întorsura Buzăului is part of the Romanian project “Sawdust 2000” to use sawdust and other wood waste for thermal energy production. The project also included other Romanian towns such as Huedin, Vlahita, Vatra Dornei and Gheorgheni. The project was funded by the European Union (Phare programme), the local and State budgets, and – being also a Joint Implementation Project – the Danish Ministry of Environment. The aim was to replace fossil fuel in district heating (light liquid fuel, similar to diesel) with locally available wood waste (sawdust, wood chips, bark etc.) coming from the wood processing industry. The investment in Întorsura Buzăului – which has been in operation since 2004 – brought multiple benefits on local and regional levels and generated one of the lowest prices per Gcal in the country, thus eliminating subsidies for hot water and heating.

TECHNOLOGY

As part of a wet biofuel system the high efficiency, automatically controlled biomass boilers produced by the Danish company Justsen can burn wood-waste with 30-55% water content. The boiler system is equipped with flue gas cleaning facilities that comply with Western European standards, pre-insulated district heating piping components, consumer connection units with plate heat exchangers for decentralized domestic hot water and automatically controlled mixing loops for space heating.
The lifetime of the installed capacity is 30 years for the boiler installation and 80 years for the pre-insulated pipes.

In 2006 the biomass system produced 5 551 Gcal of energy.

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ECONOMIC ASPECTS

The Joint Implementation project had a total cost of EUR 2 700 000, 58% of which was covered by European Phare Funds, 14% by Joint Implementation Denmark (DEPA), 18% by the Romanian Agency for Energy Conservation (ARCE). The remaining 10% was financed by the Local Council.
Compared to the previous situation, RON 155 428 /year (approx. EUR 47 500) could be saved due to the investment. Approximately 1 800 inhabitants (700 apartments are connected to the distribution network) and a series of institutions under the responsibility of the local public administration benefit from thermal energy at a price of RON 87 per Gcal, whereas the national reference price is RON 115.
As the biomass unit is currently only working at 20% capacity in winter and 10% during summer, the payback-period is difficult to estimate. In the project documentation it is assumed that running at full capacity the investment would be recovered in 10 years.

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SOCIAL EFFECTS

The project did not require an extensive public consultation process at the time. The community was informed about the project upon request, there have been no complaints related to the investment. The plant can be visited and information can be found on the internet or requested from the City Hall or the heating company.

The main beneficiaries in this project are the thermal energy consumers in the city – households and institutions – who receive quality services for low prices. Another important category of beneficiaries is represented by the wood industry enterprises, as they used to have sawdust management problems.

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ENVIROMENTAL EFFECTS

Due to the fuel shift approximately 755.40 t/year liquid oil type M (and approximately 8393.33 MWh thermal energy/year) could be replaced. As a consequence of this the district heating plant emits annually 11 200 tonnes less carbon dioxide.
The raw material is transported from small local wood processing companies operating within a radius of 100 km.
Besides the obvious fuel switch benefits, the project reduced urban air pollution and helped to avoid the dumping of the sawdust from the wood industry as waste on river banks, polluting the soil and rivers.

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DIFFICULTIES, PROBLEMS

The thermal power plant only works at 10% of its capacity in summer and 20% in winter. The project was designed to have consumers connect to the district heating network gradually, it is estimated that the plant will work at full capacity in a few years, after State funds become available for the extension of the district heating network.

The sawdust used to be obtained free of charge from small producers, but a plywood factory is now competing for this material. It is difficult for S. C. Confort S. A. to pay for the sawdust because it would affect energy prices.

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FOLLOW UP

The plans to expand this investment include a smaller, 1.5 Gcal boiler that would be installed to replace the 6 Gcal boiler for hot water production in summer – thus increasing production efficiency. Further consumers (houses and institutions) will be connected to the district heating network of Buzăului, which will lead to full capacity operation of the biomass plant.

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FURTHER INFORMATION

S. C. Confort S. A. Întorsura Buzăului

Nicolae Constantin - manager
Tel: +40 766 462 875

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