Estonian pellet firm to build CHP plant

Jan. 10, 2011, London, UK – Graanul Invest,
an Estonian bioenergy firm, is moving ahead with plans to build a wood-fuelled
combined heat and power (CHP) plant after appointing Finland-based industrial
group Metso to construct the facility. The €15 million (USD$19.4 million) CHP
plant will be built in the township of Helme and will generate 15 MW of heat
and 6.4 MW of electricity. Wood chips and pellets will fuel the plant.

The plant will power Graanul's pellet facility
and sell excess electricity to the national grid. Graanul is one of the largest
pellet producers in the Baltic region, with six facilities producing a combined
500,000 tonnes/year. The company expects to increase its production volumes by
at least 25%/year over the next five years in its strategy to become the
largest pellet producer in Europe.

The company also plans to build CHP plants
across the Baltic region and is looking at four sites in Estonia and one in
Lithuania. The Latvian government confirmed that it had agreed to lease an 18-hectare
land plot in Incukalns to Graanul for a new wood production plant. The new CHP
plant in Helme is expected to start up in the third quarter of 2012.

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