Enel Green Power, SECI Energia to develop 30 MW plant in Italy

Enel Green Power and SECI Energia introduced a project to construct a new Powercrop biomass plant in the town of Russi, Italy, near Ravenna, during a ceremony held at the local headquarters of Italy’s industry association, Confindustria Ravenna. The event was an occasion for the companies in attendance to learn more about the new facility and, above all, how to participate in the calls for tenders to execute construction works.

The Russi plant, which will be built in an industrial area previously occupied by the Eridania sugar refinery, will require an investment of €126 million ($173.7 million) and create over 300 direct and indirect jobs, in addition to the 200 workers who will be building the plant. Total annual output is estimated at 222 GWh, enough to meet the needs of 84 thousand households and avoid the atmospheric emission of 117 thousand metric tons of CO2 each year.

The biomass plant, with an installed power generation capacity of 30 MW, will be fueled by chipped virgin wood sourced locally, with an annual requirement of about 270 thousand metric tons of fuel.

The biogas plant, with a power generation capacity of 1 MW will require an annual volume of 18,000 metric tons of corn silage and 26,000 metric tons of pig manure from local producers, thereby avoiding what is sometimes uncontrolled disposal in the area.

The full development of local agricultural and forestry industries and the optimization of the use of prunings and agricultural waste enabled by the new plants is consistent with EU recommendations of local biomass as one of the main solutions for ensuring secure energy supplies and energy sustainability in Europe.