SCA has applied for a new environmental permit for the Tunadal Sawmill to replace the current permit which allows a maximum of 600,000 cubic meters of solid-wood products per year.
The new permit will allow SCA to continue expanding the sawmill’s capacity to a maximum of 900,000 cubic meters per year and also includes new driers, more storage space and the possibility to generate energy.
The new saw line was inaugurated at the Tunadal Sawmill in 2016, and the new planing mill in 2018. Over the past 10 years, SCA has invested more than 1bn Swedish Krona in increased production capacity, a higher degree of processing and environmental improvements at the Tunadal Sawmill.
Jerry Larsson, President of SCA Wood, commented: “We have gradually increased production capacity at the Tunadal Sawmill and will soon reach the maximum volume allowed by our current environmental permit. We would now like to be able to continue developing the plant.”
Production can be increased by utilising the existing plant more efficiently, but this would reportedly require investments in additional drying capacity and more space for handling raw material, finished products and by-products.
There is said to be enough space for the planned expanded operations. At the sawmill, new land is being established within the embankment that was constructed a few years ago. The new saw line stands on land that was sea just 10 years ago, and as the embankment is filled with recycled materials from Östrand and Ortviken, more space will become available for the previously cramped sawmill.
Energy generation could also become viable for the sawmill whereas, at the moment, bark and dried wood chips are transported to the Ortviken paper mill where they are used for fuel.
Jerry concluded: “A higher rate of production will create more jobs. But exactly when and by how much is difficult to say with any certainty, because we envisage a gradual increase.”
