Bosnia and Herzegovina uses biomass in public sector

The IEE company since 2009 provides engineering, manufacturing and business consulting services with the focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency and environmental protection. The company is located in Gradiška, the town with around 50,000 inhabitants.

In 2011, the municipality of Gradiška and the IEE signed the contract for heat production, supply, operation and maintenance of the entire infrastructure of the city heating plant.

The company decided to upgrade the heating plant boiler room and replace two heavy fuel boilers with biomass boilers. The company requested WebSEFF loan to realise this project.

The WebSEFF team performed the project analysis, including technical-economic parameters and risks, as well environmental and social impact to ensure the benefits to the local community.

The €1.99 million project generates the substantial energy cost savings of €433,576 per year. This allows repaying the investment in less than 5 years from energy savings only. The secured cash-flow becomes a profit for the company and a resource for the city to finance other important local investments. In addition, the end users of the heating services can now enjoy the regular 24-hour heat supply instead of the previous 16-hour schedule. All of the biomass originates from the Gradiška area, which positively influences the development of the local supply chain and secures the stable fuel supply.

Last, but not least, the project generates significant CO2 savings, making the local picturesque city more than suitable for nice living.

This project and IEE company were granted the Award for Successful use of renewable energy in the public sector. This project is a great demonstration of multi-stakeholders’ cooperation between the public, private and banking sector to implement the highly topical and needed municipal heating projects.