In the Autumn 2019 issue of European Energy Innovation we presented the Dall Energy technology and their first order in France – a 20 MW Furnace for Dalkia.
In this issue we focus on how the project has progressed and look at the initial results.
The Dall Furnace has disrupted biomass combustion technology and the design has managed to include several advantages
- Reduction of dust and particle emissions by more than 90% and NOx by 30%.
- Lower maintenance costs (no technical difficulties, low power consumption)
- Very wide load window (fast and easy modulation between 10 and
- 100% load without problems)
- Reduction of fuel cost as the technology is very fuel flexible.
Dalkia – a subsidiary of EDF, the main electricity company in France – started to work on the Dall Energy Furnace technology in 2015.
After several meetings between Dalkia and Dall Energy and a test of French fuel, Dalkia decided in 2018 to purchase a fi rst Gasifier unit from Dall Energy for the city of Rouen in France.
The plant will supply up to 17 MW of heat for the network and run for more than 7 000 operation hours per year. A seemingly straightforward demand, however, the constraint is that the district heat network has no buffer tanks for hot water storage. Thus the new heat plant needs to be able to respond and adjust accordingly to fluctuating daily heat demands on the network.
Support from Horizon 2020
Dall Energy have received funding from the European Union's
Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement no. 811529, to upscale and demonstrate their technology.
Constructed on Time – despite of COVID-19
In March 2020 all of Europe was hit by COVID-19 and it affected this project:
The site in Rouen was closed on the same week as Dall Energy was supposed to deliver and install both the Furnace and Boiler.
Dalkia and Dall Energy agreed to store the equipment at the sub suppliers. In June the site was reopened, and a new timeline was agreed upon.
The timeline was very ambitious: despite the COVID-19 situation, the plant should still be commissioned in 2020.
In many ways it has been an incredibly challenging project, but we succeeded, due to a very good collaboration. The plant started up at the beginning of December. The initial results are promising. The inauguration will take place on December 10 in the presence of the CEO of Dalkia and the Danish Ambassador.
The final commissioning will take place at the beginning of 2021.