Power plant operators, especially those located in countries with enforceable carbon emissions standards, are concerned about their CO2 emissions. But for Helsingin Energia—which provides power, heating, and cooling for Helsinki, Finland’s 300,000 residents—the main concern is local warming, not global warming. In Helsinki, temperatures on midsummer afternoons only reach an average 21C, and for half the year daytime temperatures are below 10C.
Unlike other parts of the world, where the norm is to site huge power plants away from population centers, Finland has adopted the strategy of maximizing plant energy efficiency by placing electric generators near cities and capturing the excess energy to provide building heat.
“Helsinki is quite cold, and in the wintertime we need to warm up the houses,” says Taneli Lampinen, an engineer for Helsingin Energia. “Since 1952, Helsinki has been using combined heat and power. It is now all over the city, with 92% of the heating being done by district heating.”
But although combined heat and power (CHP) is extremely efficient in the winter, when there is a demand for the waste heat, summers are a different story. To boost its year-round efficiency, Helsingin Energia has installed dual mode equipment at its Vuosaari Power Plant: In the winter, steam is used to heat homes and buildings, but in the summer that heat is used to drive a steam turbine generator. To boost efficiency even further, the company generates and stores heat overnight in the form of hot water, making it readily available for use during peak morning hours and making the turbines available for generating electricity during the day, when demand is higher.
“This combined power and heat production is the cornerstone of our operations, providing efficiency and environmental benefits as well as economic ones,” says Lampinen. “Our overall annual efficiency, depending on the weather and the price of electricity, averages 80%, but in 2009 it was close to 90%.”
This efficiency led the European Parliament in November 2008 to award Helsingin Energia with a European Regional Champion Award in the Energy Champion category, stating that “Helsingin Energia possesses unique capabilities and know-how, which make it the world leader in cogeneration and energy efficiency.”
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