GDF SUEZ and its subsidiary Electrabel unveil today the Rodenhuize 100% biomass power station in Belgium. A €125m investment has allowed to transform a coal-fired unit at the Rodenhuize power station into a 100% biomass unit. This 180 MW power plant is a world first in two ways: it’s the largest conversion of this kind and it offers the best environmental results among the transformed biomass units. The plant is jointly owned by Electrabel (73%) and Ackermans & van Haaren (27%).
In the new unit, coal has been fully replaced by wood pellets that are certified by an independent body to be of sustainable origin. One-third of the supply of wood pellets for the new Rodenhuize unit is sent by boat to the port of Ghent from the Pacific BioEnergy production facility located in the Canadian province of British Columbia, with whom Electrabel has signed a long-term contract for 225,000 tonnes of biomass per year.