Tine Meieriet Elnesvaagen

TINE is Norway’s leading supplier of dairy products with more than 30 local dairies across Norway. One of these is located in Elnesvaagen in central Norway.

The dairy needs steam for process heating, and earlier they used gas or electricity to produce the necessary steam. By installing a Linka steam plant the dairy can use wood chips instead and hereby reduce their CO2 emission significantly.

TINE is aiming to reduce their emission of greenhouse gases with 30 % before 2020, by replacing the use of gas and fossil fuels with renewable energy. The new bio plant in Elnesvaagen is part of this objective.

Linka was responsible for designing and installing the complete machine system for the heating plant, which supplies the dairy with heat enough to cover their need for both process and buildings. Every year the dairy uses around 14 million kWh.

The plant consists of a Linka H boiler, which is here adjusted for producing steam. This operates with a maximum pressure of 10 bars and a maximum operating temperature of 176°C.

A 400 m3 wood chips storage is built next to the boiler room. A scraper unit with eight scrapers is installed, from which the wood chips are transported to the boiler by auger. The storage is immersed with an electrical roof, making it easy to refill. The yearly consumption of wood chips is expected to be around 20,000 m3, all from local forests.

Since January 2016 the dairy has only used the wood chips boiler, however a gas boiler and an electric boiler from the previous plant are still available as backup.