Robust and sustainable heating in Säffle

16th May 2023
News District heating Municipal cooperation

The modern district heating plant of Säffle keeps the city residents’ homes warm with recycled fuels, biofuels, and waste heat. With complex technology, Säffle not only has sustainable heat, but also an unusually flexible heating plant that can cope with changes in a capricious environment. According to the county councilor Emma Spak “the plant adds robustness to the whole region”.

Advens heating plant in Säffle is based on technology that, through an advanced purification system, meets high environmental requirements. The investment of SEK 280 million has provided a fuel boiler built to handle a variety of renewable and recycled energy sources. This alone allows the plant to use a variety of fuels in the future, which naturally makes the system less vulnerable to sudden changes in energy supply.

“The boiler is a flexible omnivore, so to speak, something that helps to secure the fuel supply in uncertain times” says Anders Ericsson, CEO of Adven.

Future-proof heat

Besides Säffle, Adven operates around 100 district heating plants in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, but Säffle is the one of the most modern ones. Normally, this type of flexible plant is built on a much larger scale, but Adven wants to show that the technology works – and is profitable – even in a smaller model. The fact that district heating is thus secured is something that the municipal management in Säffle also appreciates.

“The investment gives us both sustainable heat and faith in the future. As a bonus, the work is a stylish sight when driving highway 45 over the Byälven river in the evening” says municipal commissioner Dag Rogne.

 

 

The heating plant in Säffle used waste heat from a nearby industry, but its production ceased. Today RDF (refuse-derived fuel), a mix of residual products from the wood and paper industry, heats the homes of Säffle.

Energy or landfill

Sweden is at the forefront when it comes to extracting energy from waste. In Säffle, the district heating plant is powered by recycled waste, or recycled fuel as it is called, from the paper and forest industries. These are materials that cannot be reused in the cycle – except to make energy out of – and that would otherwise be deposited in some landfill.

“The point is not only to reduce the waste mountain, but also not to compete for valuable ‘new’ biofuel or for electricity”, Anders Ericsson points out.

He believes that heating plants that safely produce energy from last-stage waste free up resources such as biofuel and electricity for other necessities in society. For our cars, for other transport and for industry that cannot use waste. In this way, the district heating plant in Säffle contributes to increased sustainability while the residents of Säffle keep their homes and workplaces warm.

Inspiring robustness

The county councilor of Värmland, Emma Spak, has her own take on the importance of initiatives as Adven’s in Säffle. Not least when it comes to having the courage to make big investments in small cities.

“Society needs these types of efforts, that brings robustness to the community – and as a role model – to the whole region and beyond”.

For more information:

Please contact Production Manager Håkan Andersson: +46 70 344 56 82 or CEO Anders Ericsson: +46 70 107 44 12.

 

Read the Partnership Story: Waste-to-Energy at our district heating site in Säffle, Sweden.