The construction of the combined heat and power (CHP) biomass plant in the city of Kruševac, in central Serbia, will begin in a month. The plant is expected to become operational in the autumn of 2018, local media reported.

This is a project of Building Energy 1 from Kruševac, which is part of the Italian company Building Energy from Milan. In 2015, the Italian company announced the launch of this project, and signed a memorandum of understanding with the city authorities.

Since then, the company has signed contracts with public utility companies and state enterprise Srbijašume which manages state forests and forest land.

“We expect the construction to start in a month, while the plant is expected to become operational in the autumn of 2018, in order to start heat distribution for the 2018/2019 heating season, ” the director of Building energy 1 Igor Stajić told TV Kruševac.

The plant will use wooden chips from forestry as a fuel and will apply the organic Rankin cycle (ORC) technology.

The electricity generated in the future plant, will be distributed through the electricity distribution network and the thermal energy through the district heating system in Kruševac.

Installed capacity of the plant will be 4.8 MW for electric energy and 20 MW for thermal energy.

The total value of the investment is EUR 28 million, out of which the Italian investor has secured 80 percent, and the local partner, Synergy Invest from Kruševac,  20 percent.

The plant will be built by the Italian company Amarc DHP in Kruševac’s industrial zone on the surface of 60 acres, as well as on the additional surface that is secured for the storage of biomass.