The Stains biomass heating plant, which produces energy by burning wood. As the second-largest district heating network in the Île-de-France region, it supplies heating and domestic hot water to Saint-Denis, Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, L’Île-Saint-Denis, Stains and La Courneuve, serving the equivalent of 40,000 homes.
Technical Description of the System
Together with the Saint-Denis plant, this facility supplies more than 50% of the network’s heat from a renewable energy source: biomass. The use of this energy resource, which was pioneered in France, prevents the emission of more than 50,000 tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere in the local area each year.
With a total capacity of 16 MW, the Stains heating plant comprises two wood-fired boilers installed on the site of the former Centrale Nord, which previously operated on fuel oil. The plant diversifies the energy mix used to produce heat for the network by replacing part of the heat generated from fossil fuels—gas and fuel oil—with renewable energy, thereby reducing its environmental impact.
The Stains plant requires 38,000 tonnes of wood each year to operate efficiently. The wood comes from sawmills and forests located within a maximum radius of 100 km from Stains. To secure supplies throughout the 24-year contract, ENGIE Réseaux has established partnerships with forestry operators, including ONF Énergie and the private GCF group (Groupement des coopératives forestières).
BSP scope
BSP was awarded the contract to supply a planetary extractor for the 18-metre-diameter woodchip silo, with a discharge capacity of 120 m³/h.
The ROTOBOX extractor ensures a continuous and consistent supply of woodchips to the boilers. It is equipped with advanced control and monitoring systems and complies with the highest safety standards required for an installation designed to guarantee reliable, uninterrupted operation of a critical district-heating infrastructure.
