Newly built woodchip-fired district plant commisioned in January 2010. The plant is owned by Bornholms Forsyning A/S, a municipal utility company, that produces carbon-neutral district heating based on straw and woodchips. The new plant is expected to generate 23,000 MWh a year and supply heat to around 1,300 households. This corresponds to a reduction in carbon emissions by about 5,700 tonnes a year.

Furhtermore Bornholms Forsyning supplies approximately 435 households with straw-fired heat from district heating plants located in Klemensker and Lobbæk.

All the plants are supplied with local fuels only: the straw is supplied by local farmers and the woodchips are chipped from sawmill surplus wood and surplus wood felled as part of ordinary forestry operations. In return, the farmers receive the operation’s only residual product: ashes, used as fertiliser in the fields.

There are also two privately owned straw-heating plants on the island generating heat for about 2,300 households – both of which will be enlarged in 2010 to supply 3,000 households all told.

Bornholms Forsyning also supplies clean water to about one-third of the island’s inhabitants, and manages the sewer system and wastewater treatment for the entire island.

Technical details

• New state-of-the-art woodchip-fired district heating plant.
• Expected production per year: 23,000 MWh, heat supply for approximately 1,300 households.
• Corresponding reduction in carbon emissions per year: 5,700 tonnes.