Agreements signed on electrical, automation and ICT for the Kemi bioproduct mill


All the electrical, automation and ICT installation contracts for the Kemi bioproduct mill project of Metsä Fibre, part of Metsä Group, have now been agreed. The contracts form an important part of the whole bioproduct mill. Signed as planned and on schedule, the contracts includes all the mill’s process electricity, building electricity and instrument installations, as well as ICT cabling and equipment. The installations will begin in the spring of 2022 and end in the summer of 2023.

Metsä Fibre’s partners in electrical, automation and ICT works are ASES Installaatiot Oy, Bilfinger Industrial Services Finland Oy, Caverion Industria Ltd, DC Works Finland Oy, Ekas Oy, Insta Automation Oy, Kalotti-Automaatio Oy, Karhu Group Oy, RTO Sähkö Oy, Ubitec Oy and VirtaWorks Oy. Metsä Fibre chooses the best professionals in the field as its partners to construct a modern bioproduct mill in Kemi.

“We want all our partners to commit to the project’s safety, schedule and quality goals. The partners we choose represent these values and are committed to follow them with us,” says Jari-Pekka Johansson, Director of the bioproduct mill project, from Metsä Fibre.

The partners chosen for the electrical automation and ICT works are Finnish companies, and they will primarily employ Finnish personnel to carry out the work. The bioproduct mill project has a high degree of Finnish origin, around 70 per cent. During the construction phase, the mill’s employment effect will be approximately 10,000 person-years, and more than half of it will be done in Kemi. The total number of employees working during the construction phase is estimated to be about 15,000. The number of people currently working on-site on a daily basis is 1,200.

Metsä Group’s Kemi bioproduct mill is the largest in the history of the Finnish forest industry, EUR 1.85 billion. The fully fossil free bioproduct mill will be started up in the third quarter of 2023. The mill will produce annually 1.5 million tonnes of pulp, as well as other bioproducts such as tall oil, turpentine and bioelectricity. The bioproduct mill will produce 2.0 TWh of renewable electricity every year, equivalent to about 2.5 per cent of Finland’s total electricity production. The mill will have an electricity self-sufficiency of 250 per cent, further strengthening Metsä Group’s significant position as a producer of electricity based on domestic renewable fuels.

You can follow the progress of the bioproduct mill project and its construction on Metsä Group’s Kemi site, as well as the progress of the port warehouse in Ajos through web camera livestreaming at www.metsafibre.com/webcamskemi.