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The total cost of the investment is around EUR 30 miln. The cogeneration plant and the pellet factory in Broceni, central Latvia, will create 35 jobs.

The planned annual production of the modern pellet factory is at least 120,000 tons of pellets. The plant is supplied with energy by the cogeneration plant working with biofuel, which has thermal power of 19.4 MW and electrical power of 3.98 MW. The annual estimated electricity production of the cogeneration plant is 30,000 MWh.

According to Toms Naburgs, head of the Latvian company 4 Energia, the CHP and the pellet plant in Broceni is a state-of-the-art facility utilizing the latest technological solutions thus ensuring superior production quality and efficiency. Fuel for the cogeneration plant is sourced from the surplus bark and chipped wood from the pellet production process ensuring zero waste production.

Martin Kruus, the Chairman of the Management Board of Nelja Energia, said the pellet business and the combined heat and power production were a new area of activity for the company, but the tests and the initiation period of the pellet factory and the cogeneration plant had been passed with success.

“Nelja Energia is mainly known as the biggest producer of wind power in the Baltic states, but we can now announce our expansion, which is the first cogeneration plant powered by chipped wood and also our first pellet factory in Latvia. Cooperation with the partners and also the local team has been great and we are satisfied with the investment,” Kruus said, thanking UPB, Hekotek, Inspecta and other partners for cooperation.

Nelja Energia started the test production of pellets in the beginning of the current year. By today, the tests have been passed successfully and the first orders have been delivered. Most of the plant’s production is exported to the European market. The cogeneration plant has passed all the network tests required in Latvia and the power is sent to Nordic and Baltic power market.

The pellet factory is managed by Pellet 4energia and the cogeneration plant by Technological Solution. Both of them are Latvian subsidiaries of Nelja Energia.

Nelja Energia, based on Northern European and Estonian capital, is the biggest producer and developer of wind power in the Baltic states. The company has wind farms in three Baltic states with a total capacity of 280 MW and, in addition to the wind farms, also has two biogas plants in Estonia.

The company's assets are worth more than EUR 400 miln. The newest projects of Nelja Energia are the 60 MW wind farm in Silute, Lithuania, with a total investment of more than EUR 100 million, the cogeneration plant and pellet factory in Latvia with a total investment of EUR 30 miln, and the 7.05 MW expansion of Tooma wind farm in Estonia with a total investment of EUR 11.5 miln.