A boiler on fuel briquettes started functioning in the Kholmogorskiy district of the Arkhangelsk region

This boiler house was opened within the framework of the program of the Arkhangeslk region for transfer of the regional energy sources to the local fuel. Briquettes for the new boiler house are produced in the town of Ryazanovo of the Vinogradovskiy district of the region.

Besides the briquettes, the boiler house can use wood saw, wood chips and other types of wood residues. Previously the town of Brin-Navolok, where the a boiler house on biofuel is located, used to get energy from coal. The coal boiler house is presently deactivated, however if there are any problems with the new energy source, it can “be of help”.
Other districts of the Arkhangelsk regions are also undergoing development and construction of the biofuel boiler houses. According to the information provided by the Forest and hunting agency of the Arkhangelsk region to the magazine “The Bioenergy International. Russia”, the plans of the regional authorities include reconstruction and modernization of 34 boiler houses on coal and wood logs, installation of 26 new boiler houses, construction of 50 local boilers for municipal administrative buildings, healthcare, educational and cultural facilities, construction of a mini-HPP in the village of Leshukonskoe. The specified projects will use the technologies that are based on biofuel combustion. The pilot regions include Ust’yanskiy, Vinogradovskiy, Shenkurskiy, Verkhnetoemskiy and Kholmogorskiy municipal districts. The latter has already started implementation of the project.
The reasons for switching of the Arkhangelsk region to the biofuel are as follows:
1. Availability of wood residues. Each year as a result of the activity of the forest industry enterprises in the Arkhangelsk region, over 5000 thousand m3 of wood residues are formed, where:
- industrial wood residues – 1500 thousand m³, of which 600 th m3are used;
- residues of the wood-preparation units of the pulp and paper industry – 1500 th m³, of which 100 th m³ are used;
- forest residues – 2000 th m³.
2. Tendency of the Arkhangelsk region to import fuel from other regions. There are 918 heating objects functioning on the territory of the region, including:
-using solid fuel – 803;
-using liquid fuel – 46
-using gas fuel – 67.
Annual consumption of the fuel and energy resources constitutes 616 th tons of fuel equivalent, of which 74,1% are imported resources, 25,9% is wood (550-600 th t/year or 159,6 th tons of fuel equivalent).
In order to provide the Arkhangelsk region with biofuel, according to the information of the regional administration, the construction of seven wood pellet and briquette producing plants is foreseen, with a total capacity of 35 thousand t/year each in the following districts of the region: Verkhnetomskiy, Vel’skiy, Vonogradovskiy, Konoshskiy, Kotlasskiy, Shenkurskiy, Pinezhskiy. Presently there are two acting pellet producing plants in the Arkhangelsk region, with a capacity of 75 th t/year and 12 th t/year.