UPM will build a power plant at its Chapelle Darblay mill in France, to annually combust 160,000 tonnes of energy wood available in the region and all the sludge produced in its recovered paper recycling process. The investment includes a new boiler plant which produces 85 MW of thermal energy and a back pressure turbine producing 20 MW of electricity. The total investment cost is EUR 75 million.
The power plant will start-up in the first quarter of 2007. The existing boiler will remain as a back-up unit. After the investment, the production process at Chapelle Darblay will be carbon dioxide free.
The French Government supports the power plant project. UPM's proposal was one of the 14 accepted proposals in a bidding process to promote renewable energy. The French Government's support to the investment is based on a long term contract to sell renewable electricity to the national grid.
UPM Chapelle Darblay's production capacity is 340,000 tonnes newsprint based solely on recovered paper.
Last updated 16.12.2004