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Energy Wood Chips Produced by LVM Contribute to the Use of Renewable Energy Resources in the Production of Thermal Energy

Promoting Latvia's energy independence, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) offered about 800 thousand cubic metres (about 650 000 MWh) of wood chips on the market in the heating season of 2022/2023. All energy wood chips produced by LVM were delivered to local wood processing and energy companies.

The increase in demand for energy products on the domestic market has been promoted by the influence of a number of geopolitical circumstances, including the termination of the flow of wood chip imports from Belarus, a significant reduction in gas imports from Russia, as well as the construction of new wood chip boiler houses in several Latvian municipalities, thus allowing to reduce dependence on fossil energy resources and promoting the use of renewable energy resources in heat energy production.

In several municipalities of Latvia, such as Valmiera, Cēsis, Tārgale, Olaine, Saldus, Liepāja, etc., construction of wood chip boiler houses or modernization and expansion of existing ones is currently underway, and they are expected to be put into operation already this year.

At the end of June, the new wood chip boiler house of the company “Liepājas energija” held its ridgepole celebration and it is planned that the new boiler house will start operation in the heating season of 2023/2024. In the course of the implementation of the project “Replacing fossil fuel in Liepāja”, a new wood chip heat source is being built, which will combine the heat supply systems of three boiler houses into a single centralized heat supply network, also connecting new consumers. The aim of the project is to promote the use of local renewable energy resources in the centralized heat supply system, to reduce or maintain the cost of heat energy at the current level, as well as to improve the efficiency of the boiler house.

Photo: Archive of “Liepājas enerģija”.

In turn, at the end of May, a capsule was laid in the foundations of the new biofuel boiler house of JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS”. By building the new heat source, the use of biofuel in Riga will increase to 45 %. It is expected that, once the boiler house starts work, the use of biofuel will increase to 45 % in Riga, thus allowing to reduce the use of fossil energy resources. JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” Board Member Raivis Elliņš said that practically all renewable resources are obtained in Latvia, therefore the development of heat sources has a positive effect on the Latvian economy. JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” plans to build two more new heat sources in Riga in the coming years, and then the company will produce more than 90 % of its energy from renewable sources.

JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” purchased a part of the wood chips used in the heating season of 2022/2023 from LVM, thus ensuring a biofuel reserve and part of the wood chips needed for the Zasulauks and Imanta thermal power plants.

To respond to the expected increase in demand as the heating season approaches, LVM is purposefully preparing stocks to meet the needs of each customer for the renewable resource used for energy production.

“We highly value cooperation with buyers for whom a timely contract and a guaranteed volume for a certain period of time are an important factor for us and we are aware of our role as a supplier, making deliveries to heat supply companies whose consumption is very different in the summer and winter seasons. A contract concluded in time allows LVM to create the necessary stocks in the summer to make deliveries corresponding to winter consumption during the heating season. At the same time, it also balances the annual capacity of the services involved in the preparation of wood chips”, says LVM Sales Executive Director Līga Ozola-Šmite. “We encourage people not to postpone the purchase of wood chips until the last moment and we invite all existing and potential buyers of wood chips to take part in the LVM sales procedure, which we plan to start in August specifically for the needs of the 2023/2024 heating season,” says Līga Ozola-Šmite.

LVM produces energy wood chips from tree biomass – both from felling residues, such as branches, tops, trimmings, small trees, needles, and from the growth and small wood that remains in the forest after harvesting roadside and ditch growth and caring for young trees. Energy wood must dry naturally for 3 to 6 months after preparation to reach the optimum energy value at the time of burning and to be suitable for immediate use in the production of heat.