A €15 million (£10.5m) biomass plant with geothermal steam generation – believed to be the first in the world – is now online.

Enel Green Power’s 5MW power plant – which is located in Tuscany, Italy – uses locally sourced biomass to heat steam that enters the plant from an initial temperature of between 150°C and 160°C to up to 380°C.

The biomass facility has been built next to the existing 13MW Cornia 2 geothermal plant.

It is expected to boost the plant’s output by more than 30GWh every year and reduce more than 13,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

CEO Francesco Venturini said: “The integration of different technologies is a major step forward for the future of renewable energy. This plant will enable the optimisation of results and represents a replicable model that opens up new local energy, economic and employment opportunities.”

Enel Green Power operates almost 10GW of solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and geothermal energy plants across 740 sites globally, enough to power 11 million homes.