Ambene plans to launch 41MW biomass cogeneration facility in France

Bioenergy France 3, the French arm of Spanish biofuels producer Ambene, has obtained permission from local officials to build a 41MW biomass-fired cogeneration plant in the south of France.

According to SeeNews, the plant will be constructed in the Torremila industrial zone of Perpignan.

At the end of December, the Pyrenees-Orientales prefecture gave the green light to the €50m ($54m) investment by providing the certificate for obligatory purchase of power on December 23.

"Now we only need to complete grid-connection contract and the project will be ready to build by the end of February," Cedric Baneras, the manager of Bioenergy France 3, told the local press.

The planned cogeneration plant should produce about 169GWh of green energy per year. Of these some 79GWh/year will come in the form of electricity while 90GWh/year will go to heating.

The thermal output of the plant will be fed to heating supply network that is yet to be built and will supply heating to public and private buildings in the northern part of Perpignan.

Ambene has similar projects in Chatellerault, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Angouleme. "We are also studying projects in  Poitou-Charentes, Aquitaine, Rhone-Alpes Midi-Pyrenees, Languedoc-Roussillon et Auvergne", said Baneras.