In Sweden, the forest owners association Södra has announced that it will invest "several hundreds of millions" of SEK in a new condensing turbine at its Södra Cell Mörrum pulp mill in Mörrum, which will increase the county of Blekinge’s electricity generation by 20 percent.
According to a statement, the investment is an important step for Södra in strengthening competitiveness by utilizing more of the wood raw material from family forestry and thereby increasing the profitability of forest estates.
In addition, a growing demand for green electricity as part of society’s energy transition coupled with a significant increase in electricity consumption is underlining the importance of energy efficiency and resource-efficient use of all energy.
Södra is working actively in this area to strengthen its industrial competitiveness, offer products with a low carbon footprint, maintain its positive energy balance, and continue supplying surplus green electricity.
As part of this process, Södra has decided to invest in a new condensing turbine at Södra Cell in Mörrum.
Our mission is to generate maximum value from every wood fibre that family forestry delivers to our mills. This investment will achieve that in both the long and short term. In the short term, it will increase our energy efficiency so that we can generate more electricity in the order of what hydropower currently generates across the whole of Blekinge. In the long term, it will give us the right conditions to continue developing our mills, said Stefan Sandberg, Mill Manager, Södra Cell Mörrum.
More power from the same feedstock
The condensing turbine will optimize the energy yield from the process by generating more electricity from the same amount of raw material.
The amount of electricity supplied by Södra Cell Mörrum will reduce the need to import electricity from fossil fuel power plants for Blekinge’s grid.
It will also deliver continuous and weather-independent electricity to the grid, which will improve stability.
The new turbine will be placed in a new turbine hall on Södra’s industrial site and is scheduled for operation by mid-2026.
