Produce your own electricity with woodchips or pellets: in Québec, Säätötuli Canada works in cooperation with the Finnish company Volter to provide small-size CHP (Combined Heat and Power) units.
The Volter 40 unit is able to convert woodchips or woodpellets into 40kW of electricity and up to 341,214 BTU/hr (100kW) of heat. The Volter 40 has now passed all CSA approval tests and Volter started its own Canadian company in Ontario in spring of 2018. The Volter 40 system can use a Säätötuli biomass silo as a feeder. The Säätötuli Hydrobar can even be transformed to be a biomass dryer in order to get the woodchips at the right moisture content for an optimal electricity production with the Volter 40.
Electricity generated by the Volter 40 can be locally used or injected in a distribution network. This is a good solution for remote communities surrounded by forests and depending on diesel gensets for their power generation. By using locally sourced woodchips to produce electricity, those remote communities can decrease their reliance on fossil fuels and improve their carbon footprint. Additionally it will generate some local jobs to harvest and prepare the biomass fuel.
Volter uses a wood gasification process. It will displace a liter of fossil fuel with about two kilograms of dry wood. The gasification unit burns the wood at high temperature with low oxygen. The gas that is generated is used as fuel in an internal combustion engine that runs an electric generator. The heat produced during the process can be used for example to dry the woodchips to an optimal moisture content before they enter the gasification unit.
Volter 40 has been designed for modular power plants. Several units can be combined to increase the total output of the power plant. Volter 40 can be also preassembled in a sea container for easy installation.
More information: www.volter.ca