40MW biomass electricity plant to be built in Spain

SENER is set to design, supply, build and commission a new, low emission biomass electricity plant in Huelva, Spain.

Engineering and technology group SENER has signed a contract with ENCE Energía y Celulosa for the turnkey arrangement that will see SENER operate and maintain the new facility during its first years of operation.

The new facility will be an electricity generation plant using biomass from the forestry and farming industries. With a 40 MW gross nominal electricity output, it will be one of the largest high-efficiency low-emission biomass renewable energy plants in Spain, according to SENER.

It is projected that the plant will enter into operation in the third quarter of 2019.

To accommodate a variety of different types of biomass, the plant will be equipped with an advanced fuel handling system, both for incoming biomass and for its preparation and storage. The plant will boast a gas combustion and treatment system, guaranteeing compliance with the strict requirements of the new European standard, BREF (Best Available Techniques Reference), which establishes the best practices for the industry’s Large Combustion Plants in Europe.

SENER has designed a ‘high-efficiency’ regenerative thermodynamic cycle with a built-in reheater in its furnace and a double-body turbine (high and low pressure), as well as multiple extractions. The plant will also be refrigerated using cooling towers. All of this will contribute to bringing the plant's gross output to over 35 %. SENER has already applied this system at the Mérida biomass plant, which in its first year of commercial operation reached an equivalent availability of 8,025 hours of operation, exceeding the client's expectations, according to a statement from SENER.