Vaskiluodon Voima’s plant is ground-breaking in many ways, as this is

the first time in the world that biomass gasification is being adopted

on such a large scale for replacement of fossil fuels.“ The commissioning of the gasification plant is a major step in our company’s target of using mainly domestic fuels for heat and electricity production. This can be considered a complete energy turnaround,” says Rami Vuola, Chairman of the Board of Vaskiluodon Voima and CEO of EPV Energia Oy, joint owner of Vaskiluodon Voima.The supplier Metso’s delivery included fuel handling, a large-scale dryer and a circulating fluidized bed gasifier, modification work on the existing coal boiler and a Metso DNA automation system. The bio-gasification plant was constructed as part of the existing coal-fired power plant, and the produced gas will be combusted along with coal in the existing coal boiler.The plant started up at the turn of the year. The contract for the new plant was announced in June 2011, and Metso started the construction at Vaskiluoto in April of the following year, making the actual construction phase fairly short.“The operational experiences so far indicate that the 140-MW bio-gasification plant functions as planned, and the produced gas burns cleanly in the coal boiler and reduces emissions,” says Mauri Blomberg, Managing Director, Vaskiluodon Voima.