First feed-in from the biomass plant E-Wood

December 2022

On December 1, 2022, the biomass plant built by SBG in Doël in the port of Antwerp fed electricity and heat into the grid for the first time. With this "precision landing", the plant fulfilled the requirements for obtaining the Green Certificates one day before the set deadline and secured biomass remuneration over a period of 15 years for the builders Indaver and Veolia.

The construction of the plant was under enormous pressure due to the Corona pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. Time delays due to late deliveries of components as well as pandemic-related staff shortages constantly presented our execution team and that of our customer with new and difficult tasks. We are all the more proud to announce the achievement of this important milestone.

‘It took blood, sweat and tears’

said Indaver's CEO Paul De Bruycker. 'First, there was the corona crisis that caused workshops to close and teams to be unable to work. All the spare time got used up with those corona delays. Then there was the war in Ukraine. At the moment it broke out, a lot of Ukrainian employees at different sites packed everything together. From one day to the next, they drove to Ukraine to serve their country.'

Nevertheless, through unbelievable dedication and ambition, the project team managed to achieve the almost impossible and, shortly before the deadline, put the plant in a position to feed in according to the specified framework conditions. Therefore, we cannot say one thing often enough: many thanks to the entire team for their tireless and self-sacrificing commitment!

Of course, our thanks also go to our customer and our suppliers for their cooperative collaboration, without which this milestone could certainly not have been reached.

The remaining work is still to be done: the SBG management wishes the entire team for the project a successful completion!

High investment for sustainable and environmentally compatible power and heat supply

The E-Wood project, a total investment of around €95 million, will enable the combustion of up to 180,000 tons of waste wood annually. The plant can generate 20 megawatts of electricity and 11.5 megawatts of heat for the Ecluse steam network in the port of Waasland in a sustainable, environmentally friendly and reliable manner.