Belgium to build world's first jatropha powered CHP plant

Finnish engineering firm Wärtsilä yesterday announced it had clinched an $11m deal to build the world's first engine-driven combined heat power and power (CHP) plant, designed to run off crude jatropha oil.

The company said the CHP plant will deliver both heat and electricity by burning the liquid biofuel, which is extracted from seeds of the jathropha plant and has been widely touted by experts as a potentially environmentally sustainable source of biofuel.

"The liquid biofuel has great potential since jathropha can be harvested outside the world's rainforest areas, even near desert," explained Ronald Westerdijk, business development manager of Wärtsilä Benelux countries. He added that it could provide a potentially carbon neutral biofuel that does not compete with food crops for agricultural land.

The plant, costing approximately $11m, will be located in an agricultural area of Belgium, the company said. It will be owned by Greenpower NV, a joint venture set up by sustainable energy firm Thernergo, four local agricultural companies and a private investor.

According to Wärtsilä, the plant will have an overall energy efficiency of approximately 85 per cent and is due to start operating next February.

While electricity will be sold to the grid, the company said heat from the plant will primarily be used to heat local greenhouses and a manure digester plant designed to produce fertiliser.