Work has begun on a new combined heat and power plant in Vilnius, Lithuania after the project received over €139m ($173m) in grant funding from the EU and a €190m construction loan from the European Investment Bank.
State-owned utility Lietuvos Energija announced the start of work this week on the €350m project, which is expected to supply 87.6 MWe and 227 MWth.
Around 18 MWe and 53 MWth are planned to come from waste-to-energy systems. According to reports, the EU grant consists of €90.8m for a biomass unit and €48.5m for a waste-to-energy unit burning municipal waste.
Commissioning is planned for late 2019.
Once the plant is operational, up to a 5 per cent stake will reportedly be offered to Vilniaus Silumos Tinklai, the municipally-owned heat network operator.
The plant is expected to save Vilnius around €10m in waste management costs and up to €13m in heating costs per year.
The project is reportedly Lithuania’s largest energy project to date.
Lietuvos Energija and Finland’s Fortum are also building a 24 MWe/70 MWth CHP plant in the city of Kaunas, at a cost of about €150m.
See also:
CHP developer suspends Lithuanian investment for two years
Lithuanian district heating firm in contract battle
Dispute over construction of Lithuanian CHP plant
