After having restarted operations at its Tofte pulp mill at the end of March, Södra Cell Tofte now plans to invest in renewable energy production. The company is receiving environmental funds to eliminate its dependency on fossil fuels.
The EFTA Surveillance Authority has today adopted a decision approving environmental aid to Södra Cell Tofte under the Norwegian Energy Fund Scheme. The Authority said Södra Cell Tofte would receive NOK100m (approximately €12.8m) to replace the use of fossil fuels with self produced bio energy. The investment will reportedly also increase the company’s electricity production; the excess electricity will be sold on the power exchange Nord Pool Spot.
Södra Cell has restarted its Tofte mill in the last week of March after a market-related downtime of more than three months. Production had been halted in December 2011 due to sluggish demand and low sales prices. The company produces bleached softwood and hardwood kraft pulp at the mill with a capacity of 400,000 tpy.
The Norwegian energy fund scheme is to promote an environmentally friendly change in the use and production of energy in Norway. The Authority explained that the Norwegian Government had set an overall performance target of increasing the production of energy based on renewable energy sources and of reducing the energy consumption by 40 TWh in the period 2001-2020.
