Italy:

Enel Green Power Building World's First Integrated Biomass and Geothermal Plant (News Release)

5 MW of capacity from biomass will be added to a 13 MW geothermal plant

Enel Green Power has begun construction at the "Cornia 2" geothermal power plant in the town of Castelnuovo Val di Cecina, in Tuscany -- the first plant in the world that uses biomass to heat geothermal steam in order to increase the energy efficiency and power output.

The existing geothermal plant will be supplemented by a small plant powered with locally sourced virgin forest biomass produced within a radius of 70 km from the plant.

Thanks to the biomass, the steam entering the plant will be heated to raise the initial temperature to between 370°-380° from 150°-160°, thereby increasing net capacity for power generation. In this case, 5 MW of capacity from biomass will be added to a geothermal plant that currently has an installed capacity of 13 MW. The geothermal plant’s annual power output will be boosted by approximately 37 GWh.

Enel Green Power is investing more than €15 million in the project, with construction due to be completed by the first half of 2015.

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