“A very successful pre-study, excellently carried out by FVB!”
Says Mr. Derek Madden of Irish company Primary Energy Solutions, summarizing an assignment in the heart of London recently concluded by FVB. This pre-study was a real pioneer project: a biofuel co-generation plant in the Docklands by the Thames.

Interested Lord Mayor

The project in Docklands is for an entirely new, luxurious residential area of 4,000 flats. The proprietor wanted biofuel co-generation and district heating in the area. There is no previous plant of this kind in London, and so the Lord Mayor´s Office also became very interested. Prime Energy Solutions, specialized in biofuel plants, received the assignment of designing the plant. For the pre-study, however, the expertise required was nowhere to be found on the Britisk isles.
“But having bought a great number of boilers from Sweden, being the leading nation worldwide in biofuels, it was quite natural to ask our suppliers there and their recommendation was that we should make contact with FVB."

Good profitability

Mr. Lars Lindgren of FVB was coordinating the Swedish part of the assignment. “We received an inquiry, met them shortly before Christmas, a contract was signed and then we indeed had a very intense January. We analyzed the possibilities of obtaining enough biofuel and perhaps also recycled waste wood, appropriate type and dimension of the boiler, turbine and condenser, and the investment requirements.”
Great Britain is getting increasingly interesting for biofuels, since there is an incentive and tax system that is forwarding these fuels and low carbon dioxide solutions. This FVB discovered when the profitability assessment was made.
“Considering location and size of the plant, we were quite surprised by its good profitability,” Mr. Lindgren says.

Served its purpose

Now the pre-study is concluded, but it is an open question if the plant will be built as planned. The reason is the current uncertainty in the financial markets, making banks rather unwilling to provide loans. This may force the entrepreneur to choose the cheaper investment alternative, using natural gas for fuel.
“But the pre-study has served its purpose,” Mr. Madden confirms.
“Through it, the proprietor as well as Prime Energy Solutions have had the opportunity of studying the technology and may use it in other projects. We have for example had six other inquiries about pre-studies lately.
“So we are both quite content with FVB,” Mr. Madden says.