All-time high for district heating in Sweden and Finland

21st December 2022
News District heating

During 2022, Adven has seen a strong increase in the interest of district heating and by the end of the year, it can be said that the number of new connections has reached all-time high.

– We have connected properties whose total energy need correspond to a smaller district heating network says Håkan Bergman, VP Customer, Market & Sales at Adven.

In recent years, Adven has had a stable annual growth in the number of properties connected to the local district heating in their approximately 70 locations in Sweden and Finland. However, since the start of year 2022, the company has seen an increase in the interest of having district heating as a heating source.

“During the year, we have seen a strong increase in interest of district heating in all our locations in Sweden and Finland, which we think is great, of course,” says Håkan Bergman, VP Customer, Market & Sales at Adven. “By more businesses, multiple-housing associations and residential customers using district heating for hot water and heat, the corresponding electricity need is released and can be used for other parts in society.”

Håkan Bergman believes that the increased interest in district heating is due to the changes and uncertainty that currently prevail in the energy market. Among other things, he highlights district heating’s price stability, and thus predictability, as an important factor in why he believes that many property owners choose district heating.

“The annual growth has previously mainly come from new construction of properties, but the trend we are now seeing is that new construction is decreasing, and that growth is instead dominated by property owners who want to replace their existing heating in favor of district heating.”

One of the networks where Adven sees that the high interest stands out is Staffanstorp in southern Sweden, where the heating in the society, and its own production, has largely taken place with gas. Therefore, during the autumn, Adven made two decisions for its network in Staffanstorp. One concerns the production of district heating, where the pace of the transition to the use of more renewable and recycled energy sources is now increasing. In the first stage, this is done by moving an existing pellet boiler from the heating plant in Boxholm, Sweden. The second decision is linked to expanding the production of district heating locally in order to meet the growing need for district heating for the urban area.

“The goal is that we will be able to offer a larger part of Staffanstorp district heating produced in a sustainable way within the next few years, Håkan concludes.”

During the year, Adven connected 112 properties to district heating and the connections include mainly apartment buildings, industrial premises, and sports facilities. The properties’ total energy needs correspond to approximately 28 GWh, which can be compared with the same energy volume that the company currently delivers to Hällefors in Sweden. In total, Adven delivers approximately 2 TWh of district heating annually to its customers in Sweden and Finland.

For more information:

Håkan Bergman, VP, Customer, Market & Sales, Business area: District Heating, hakan.bergman@adven.com, +46 19 277 11 59.