DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Lounavoima is a partner in innovative circular economy and energy solutions
The company actively seeks technical solutions for reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency. Lounavoima is a competitive partner in innovative circular economy and energy solutions in the Korvenmäki area. The company actively promotes solutions that support its shareholders’ objectives in material recycling and emissions reductions.
The City of Salo has elevated the circular economy hub that centres around the waste-to-energy plant to the status of key project. The circular economy is an opportunity for diversifying the city’s economic structure. By promoting circularity we are also responding to some of the greatest global challenges faced by the world, such as diminishing natural resources and climate change.
Heat for the winter from deep heat storage
Salo is taking a new step towards zero-emissions heat generation. A heat storage facility is being drilled into the bedrock on the site of the Korvenmäki WtE plant, for the purpose of storing excess heat generated during the summer. The stored heat will be used in winter, when heat demand is at its highest.
In the first phase, one well with a depth of approximately 1,6 kilometres was drilled in Korvenmäki. The first well is currently being tested and will be completed in 2023. The drilling of a second well is being prepared on the site. If all goes to plan, there will be a total of six deep heat wells on the WtE plant’s grounds. The six-well heat storage will produce 8–10 GWh of heat per year, which corresponds to the heating needs of 400–500 detached houses.
With the completion of the WtE plant, Salo’s carbon dioxide emissions from district heating generation were halved, as waste fuel replaced fossil fuels and peat. The heat storage facility will further improve the plant’s district heating efficiency, as excess heat produced in the summer can be stored and used later when demand is at its highest in winter. The district heating from the storage facility has zero carbon dioxide emissions.
The Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment gave the Lounavoima heat storage project an investment grant. This financing was intended for renewable energy projects that offer cutting-edge energy solutions that can help in meeting Finland’s and the European Union’s targets for 2030.
WtE plant’s carbon dioxide for use as vehicle fuel
The Korvenmäki waste centre has succeeded in refining landfill gas into biomethane, which can be used for instance as fuel for vehicles. The objective is to use the same technology in the future to utilise carbon dioxide extracted from the plant’s combustion gases.
The results of the trial to refine landfill gas into biomethane exceeded all expectations: besides producing the methane, the microbiological reactor purified the gas of hydrogen sulphides and other impurities, which have until now hampered the use of landfill gases in biogas plants.
The plan is to build a carbon dioxide extraction and methanizing facility next to the Lounavoime WtE plant, to produce fuel that can be used in vehicles.
Lounapuisto Circular Economy Park 2021-2023 (ERDF)
The aim is to develop the already operating Waste-to-Energy Plant in Salo and the area of Korvenmäki into a core area for circular economy activities and to link it to other circular economy parks in Southwest Finland.
In the project, the circular economy surveys and techno-economic reviews related to the region and the growth sector are brought together. Future markets are also evaluated and a so-called ”phenomenon map” is drawn up from future prospects. Companies already operating in the area are openly invited to participate in the vision work.
After the vision work, systematic cooperation will be launched with companies and operators whose waste and side streams can be utilised as a resource for new and existing products and services. The operation of the project is open and interactive from the outset.
The measures of the project have been compiled into concrete work packages:
- A common vision and a state of will
- Construction of the circular economy ecosystem of Lounapuisto, activation and facilitation of operations, initiation of the university-enterprise partnership
- Communication
As a result of the project, the area - at this stage known as Lounapuisto - will profile itself as one of the innovative circular economy environments in southern Finland, an attractive location for new cleantech and environmental companies and a testing environment for equipment and application suppliers.
Yrityssalo, which includes Turku University of Applied Sciences, the University of Turku and Lounavoima Oy as co-organisers, manages the project. The project will run from 1.12.2021 to 31.8.2023 and started in January 2022. The project has received ERDF funding.
