The City of Espoo and Fortum introduce solutions for an emission-free city: Carbon-free district heat and smart heating solutions

View Only

The City of Espoo and Fortum introduce solutions for an emission-free city: Carbon-free district heat and smart heating solutions

By District Energy posted 01-29-2018 00:00

Recommend

Press Release, Fortum

In 2016, the City of Espoo and Fortum signed an agreement on developing economically and ecologically sustainable urban solutions. In cooperation the City of Espoo and Fortum are building an emission-free city together, and the first results can already be seen. The cooperation scheme has been outlined as a distinct development path that will make the district heat produced and utilised in Espoo carbon neutral in the 2020s.

To produce new, carbon-free energy, an environmental permit application for building a biopower plant in Kivenlahti was submitted in autumn 2017, and plans were made for building a power plant using biomass and recycled fuel in Ämmässuo. Demand response and Ekolämpö were introduced for the 5,000 apartments of Espoon Asunnot, a rental housing company of the City of Espoo. In addition, marketing the solutions to other areas in Espoo has begun. The new districts at Finnoo and Kera have been selected as the first development targets where smart regional energy solutions will be applied.

In addition, already during the agreement period it has been possible to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of energy production and use. This is an important part of the cooperation and is in line with the parties’ strategic goal of creating a cleaner world. As a result, carbon-dioxide emissions have already decreased by 15% from 2014.

Jukka Mäkelä, Mayor of the City of Espoo, and Pekka Lundmark, the CEO of Fortum, signed a new agreement on 29 January 2018 to continue the implementation of shared energy objectives and the development of urban solutions. Throughout the new agreement period, projects that have already been agreed on will be advanced, and new solutions will be sought for dwelling and heating. In addition, attention will be paid to developing electronic mobility services and different types of energy solutions, such as increasing the efficient use of solar energy.

“Based on several indicators, Espoo has been ranked as the most sustainable city in Europe. We want to keep this status in the future, too. Cooperation with Fortum is one of our most important partnerships in this regard. The new solutions make Espoo more attractive and create new business. Smart city solutions make everyday life easier, and create and strengthen well-being among the inhabitants and in the whole region”, says Jukka Mäkelä, Mayor of the City of Espoo.

”It’s great that we’ve achieved concrete results in such a short time through the cooperation scheme. We will definitely reach the goals we set. Cooperation with the City of Espoo is a fine example of a successful partnership, and we can use the solutions developed in Espoo in addressing the energy challenges of cities all over the world“, says Pekka Lundmark, Fortum CEO.