District heating supply Merano - Merano South heating plant

Alperia Ecoplus GmbH, operator and owner of the Merano district heating network, commissioned the construction of a new biomass-fired heating plant between Merano and Sinich to supply district heating. The 1.2-hectare construction site is located on the left bank of the Adige River along the Bolzano–Merano railway line. Construction began in late summer 2020, and the first feed-in to the grid occurred in December 2021. The district heating plant is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies for combustion and flue gas cleaning and is fully automated. Key technical components include:
• 1 biomass boiler (hot water) including heat recovery via economizer
• SNCR system for cleaning exhaust gases (reduction of nitrogen oxides) including urea tank
• Flue gas cleaning via multicyclone (coarse ash) and electrostatic precipitator (fine ash) including ash removal
• Covered wood chip storage facility approx. 10,000 m³ and fully automated wood chip crane
• Peak/reserve boiler with natural gas burner
• Natural gas CHP for own electricity requirements
• 1 buffer storage tank with a capacity of 175 m³, including preparations for retrofitting a second buffer storage tank
• 60-ton truck scale as a flush-mounted weighbridge
• Round timber storage area with an area of approx. 5,000 m²