Moelven Industrier is to invest a total of SEK382m (equivalent to approximately €36m) at the Karlskoga site of its Swedish sawmill, Valåsen. The scope of the investment will include construction of a pellet plant with an initial capacity of 80,000 t per annum as well as a thermal power station. In a second expansion phase, the annual capacity is to be increased to up to 105,000 t. According to a statement issued by Moelven on 29 June, the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in autumn 2024. No details have yet been disclosed regarding suppliers of the machinery. The pellets produced in Karlskoga will be sold to end consumers in relevant export markets.
The new plant is to be largely identical in design to the pellet plant commissioned at the beginning of 2020 on the site of Moelven’s Norwegian sawmill in Sokna. In the Sokna plant, which is also designed for an annual capacity of 80,000 t of pellets, three presses from CPM Holdings, a drying line from Stela Laxhuber and plant components from Hekotek were installed. In May 2019, Moelven entered into a long-term and exclusive cooperation agreement with SCA pertaining to the pellets produced in Sokna. Since commissioning of the plant, SCA has taken on the entirety of the pellet volumes produced in
