Helsingør: an immaculate operation in green heat and power

“The plant supplies heat and power for thousands of households around the Helsingør area; so at the same time, of course, our main mission is to produce efficient, low-cost district heating to the local population and have the ability to generate electricity to export to the national grid for extra income,” says Jens Steffen Hansen, Project Leader, Forsyning Helsingør.

Hansen is speaking from the offices of Forsyning Helsingør, co-owner of Helsingør Kraftvarmeværk, where the plant started up in spring 2019. The ANDRITZ scope of supply included the boiler island, from fuel silos to boiler outlet based on its Ecofluid BFB boiler design that combines high efficiency with excellent environmental performance. The boiler burns wood-based biomass, which consists of forest residues, bark, sawdust, and wood chips, and generates 75 t/h of steam to the turbine. The steam temperature is around 500 °C with a steam pressure of 65 bar (a).

STRINGENT EMISSION CONTROLS

The site is around 25 years old and was formerly utilized for district heating and power generation using natural gas as a fuel. “The decision was taken around 2013 to replace the fossil fuel we were using, mainly due to the local and national ambitions to reduce CO₂ emissions, but also to cut down on expensive natural gas costs.” Helsingør Kraftvarmeværk chose ANDRITZ BFB technology because of its ability to handle the stringent emission demands. Marko Natunen, Director, Engineering and Project Execution, Power Boilers, ANDRITZ, says, “Our BFB technology is the best available on the market for biofuel processing on the scale needed at the Helsingør Kraftvarmeværk plant. Due to the stringent emission controls laid down, it is difficult to control emissions with the common “grate” technology, which is the type most used in similar-sized power stations in Denmark.”

A 72 HR UNMANNED OPERATION

Commissioning and start-up of the plant took place in the period from autumn 2018 to spring 2019 and went well with no major problems. There are now seven people employed to run the power plant, which has been designed and built to operate completely unmanned for up to 72 hours at a time. When the plant is unmanned, it is remote-controlled from the control room of a waste incineration plant at Norfors, located in Hørsholm, 15 km south of Helsingør.

Lars Frost, Marine Engineer, Forsyning Helsingør, says, “It’s actually quite common for a power plant to run unmanned for certain amounts of time, particularly when fueled by natural gas. In the case of a biomass plant, it is slightly different as the fuel is not as homogenous, with its different shapes and forms. We have been very impressed so far with the plant and it's running very smoothly.”

The new power plant is fitted with the very latest in automation and digital technology. Joachim Rasmussen, Marine Engineer, Forsyning Helsingør, adds, “When we are running unmanned, we take it in turns to be on call should anything go wrong at the plant. If there is an alarm or alert, we simply turn on the iPad and we can manage the whole plant from wherever we are situated, even outside of the plant.”

The plant is now fully operational and ready to increase to full load for its first winter of operation where it will provide heat to the local residents and also generate valuable extra electricity.

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