Finland's Largest Peat-Fired Power Plant Shut Down Because of Peat Shortage

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Kanteleen Voima Oy (Haapavesi, Finland) operates the world's largest peat-fired condensing power plant. The facility, located about 515 kilometers north of Helsinki in Haapavesi, has been shut down since the beginning of November 2008 as a result of low peat availability.

The 154-megawatt (MW) peat-fired power plant has an annual electricity production of about one terawatt per hour, and an average annual utilization that reaches 5,200 hours. Regarded as one of the most cost-efficient of all the condensing plants in Finland, the Haapavesi Power Plant is not expected to resume operations before mid-2009, the plant's authorities told Industrial Info.

The facility does not use oil as an auxiliary fuel; it runs on peat during normal operation, which comes from one of Europe's largest peat-production areas, located very close to the plant's site. During 2007 and 2008, Finland had a particularly small peat crop, because of excessive rainfall.

The Haapavesi Power Station is equipped with a Tampella once-through steam boiler with a capacity of 992 pounds per hour at 2,600 pound-force per square inch and a temperature of 997 degrees Fahrenheit. This boiler works in conjunction with a 170-MW Siemens (NYSE:SI) condensing turbine and a KWU generator. It has undergone several automation upgrades during the last years, including an advanced steam turbine automation system incorporated in 2008, featuring a turbine controller from Siemens and a classic system from Metso (Helsinki, Finland).

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