- Success Story
Energy company Savon Voima’s objective is to become a completely carbon neutral electricity and heat provider by 2030. One of the tasks on their decarbonization checklist was the modernization of a BFB boiler at their Iiksenvaara plant in Joensuu, Eastern Finland. To cross the task off the list, Savon Voima partnered with Sumitomo SHI FW (SFW), an expert in bioconversions and industry decarbonization.
The project started in August 2021, when the companies signed a contract for a bioconversion delivered by SFW, enabling the Iiksenvaara plant to run 100% on biomass. Today, the results of the cooperation enable Savon Voima to produce electricity and heat from fully renewable fuels in an environmentally friendly, efficient and reliable way.
From the start, Savon Voima’s targets for the boiler modernization were ambitious.
Firstly, we needed to ensure that after the modernization, the use of peat fuel could be smoothly decreased down to zero. Secondly, reliable and high availability operation of this main boiler with 100% biomass was crucial. And thirdly, operation with larger firing diagram and within tightening emission limits was to be made possible. SFW’s long and versatile expertise convinced us during the tendering phase, and they succeeded well over the project time. All our targets are now met.
SFW had a customer-oriented response to the interesting challenge.
Our aim was to offer the customer a compact delivery that not only increased the environmental performance and availability but also the future cost-efficiency of the power plant. As a fuel, biomass is significantly more economical than the previously used peat. Compared to replacing the entire boiler, a modernization was a more cost-effective option that also simplified the related permit process for the customer.
In practice, the project included modifications to existing heat surfaces and the delivery and installation of new superheaters designed for biomass firing to increase the availability and reliability of the plant’s existing BFB (bubbling fluidized bed) boiler and modifications of air system including a new secondary air fan. A sulphur feeding system was also added to reduce the fouling and corrosion of heat surfaces.
In October 2022, a year after signing the contract, SFW’s sales and project team handed over the successfully completed project to Savon Voima. Project Manager Jukka Varonen from Savon Voima as well as Vesa Jokelainen and Customer Manager, Services, Tero Tikkanen from SFW are happy about the outcome.
The boiler modernization project with SFW’s experts was successful from beginning to end. It was impressive to follow how SFW managed to operate all site works with high work quality and without any remarkable safety deviations or delays. Communication with SFW’s personnel was open and communicative, so it is easy to continue working with the company in the future.
For SFW, customer collaboration and trust are central to success.
This project has been rewarding as we were able to support the customer in reaching their objective of moving away from fossil fuels cost-effectively with our well-proven technology. We were able to increase the reliability of Savon Voima’s plant which can now run fully on biomass.
This fruitful project between Savon Voima and SFW has been an excellent example of what can be achieved with long-term cooperation. The project proceeded very well through all its stages from designing through construction and commissioning. Mutual trust remained high throughout the project and the plant was commissioned as planned.
The companies share a common goal of ensuring reliable carbon neutral energy production in the current globally challenging operating environment.