Otaniemi geothermal plant to be commissioned this year
Fortum and the City of Espoo have committed to carbon-neutral district heating production in the district heating network operating in the Espoo, Kauniainen and Kirkkonummi regions in the 2020s. The district heating network supplies heat to 250,000 end users in homes and offices.
The development work that began in 2016 was accelerated last autumn when a new intermediate goal was set to discontinue the use of coal in 2025. The accelerated carbon-neutrality project is called Espoo Clean Heat.
On 29 January 2020, Espoo Mayor Jukka Mäkelä and Fortum CEO Pekka Lundmark signed a new agreement that continues the implementation of shared energy targets and the development of urban solutions.
The production of carbon-neutral district heating in Espoo made advancements during the last decade by using waste heat from wastewater, for example. Last year about one quarter of the production was already carbon-neutral, and this year the share will increase to 40% when the Kivenlahti bio-heating facility and the Otaniemi geothermal plant are commissioned and when one of the two coal-fired units is decommissioned at the Suomenoja power plant.
From the Global Geothermal News archives:
- Friday, September 27, 2019 - Finland: Testing at 40 MWth Espoo Geothermal District Heating Project Scheduled to Begin at Year End
- Thursday, September 26, 2019 - Finland: Drilling at 40 MWth Espoo Geothermal District Heating Project Scheduled for Completion in November
- Tuesday, September 3, 2019 - Finland: Drilling at 40 MWth Espoo Geothermal District Heating Project Reaches Final Phase
- Tuesday, July 24, 2018 - Finland: Stimulation Begins at at the Espoo Geothermal Deep Heat Project
- Monday, April 23, 2018 - Finland: Drilling at 40 MWth Espoo Geothermal District Heating Project Reaches Final Depth of 6,400 Meters
- Tuesday, May 10, 2016 - Finland: Drilling Starts for 40 MWth Espoo Geothermal District Heating Project
