A wood pellet plant owned 34 per cent by Statoil is to be constructed at Sykkylven in western Norway, with production due to start next summer.
This facility is being built at a cost of NOK 20 million by the Møre Biovarme company. As Norway’s largest producer and marketer of wood pellets, which are made from forest waste, Statoil will be responsible for distribution and sales of the fuel.
“We’re focusing on selling to small and medium-sized heating centrals,” says Geir Sjevrak, who is marketing manager for such installations in the Nordic energy business cluster.
Annual production from the Møre Biovarme plant will be 8,000 tonnes, which corresponds to current output from the Brumunddal facility in eastern Norway owned 50 per cent by Statoil. Work is currently under way to achieve a significant expansion in production at Brumunddal.
Statoil also owns a wood pellet plant at Vejen in Denmark, and has an 80.2 per cent holding in a similar unit at Säffle in Sweden.