The Slatina 5MW cogeneration plant – Resalta’s largest project

Consisting of a steam boiler running on wood chips, with a steam turbine and generator for electrical power, the plant will produce both electric and heat energy. It will have a 5 MW capacity and annually produce 40 GWh of electric energy, which is enough to power 500 households. The Croatian energy market operator (HROTE) has signed a 14-year contract for the purchase of the electricity produced.

The cogeneration process works by taking wood chips from storage and inserting them into the drying plant, which then transfers them into the biomass boiler where the dried wood chips are burned. This burning produces steam that spins the adjoining turbine which powers an electric generator. Heat is produced by the boiler and so the final product of the plant is both thermal and electric energy.

„Investing in a biomass-powered CHP plant is a natural step for our company, given that we are a leader in the ESCO business in South Eastern Europe, as well as a company that is completely oriented towards renewable sources of energy, energy savings and investments in clean energy projects. The Slatina CHP project will implement best available technology equipment with the highest level of energy efficiency and lowest greenhouse gas emissions,“ said Siniša Janjušević, head engineer on the project and Resalta Project Leader.

“Preparations for the development of the Slatina CHP project took six months, given that we were highly focused on choosing the right concept for the plant, with the best suited, most efficient and effective technology. Negotiations with the equipment supplier, who is also the contractor building the entire project, took another few months, which is further proof of how committed all the participants are to achieving excellence. Team work has been and will remain very important throughout all the phases of the project, and we will continue to build good cooperation between partners, focusing our attention on the precision and accuracy of the performance of the plant,” said Marko Podlesek, Director of Resalta’s Heat & Power Division, responsible for the entire project.

This commercial technology for the simultaneous production of heat and power will be one of the largest projects of its kind in the region and represents a benchmark for Resalta as well as the Slatina municipality. The total investment in this project is €24 million, and the newly built cogeneration plant will employ 15 people from the municipality once it begins operations.