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Thermally treated wood in pellet form, or “black pellets”, is a promising type of biomass which can be used for cost effective co-firing in existing coal power stations. The fuel handling properties alone are enough to make black pellets one of the main contributors to increased future volumes of renewable fuels for Vattenfall.Vattenfall’s new strategic direction is to replace more than half of the hard coal used today with biomass by 2020. Therefore, finding answers to the most critical questions that remain about the utilisation of black pellets is a major R&D focus.Small-scale tests indicate that black pellets offer similar properties to hard coal, and using them as a fuel would therefore require a fraction of the investment that wood pellets would necessitate.

While opportunities to build new hydro power are limited, this does not necessarily mean that hydro power cannot grow as an energy source, by modernising and upgrading existing hydro power plants. Some of our R&D projects include finding effective solutions to reduce environmental impact without reducing generation capacity.Vattenfall continuously makes major investments in our existing hydro power plants to extend their operational period. R&D is conducted to support these investments and to improve operation and maintenance. Ongoing and planned activities include modernization and improvements of construction, and installation of monitoring equipment.