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Energy Year 2008 DISTRICT HEAT

Finnish Energy Industries
Press release
For publication 22 January 2009 10 a.m.

Energy Year 2008 - DISTRICT HEAT

Mild weather reduced district heat sales

Finnish Energy Industries figures show that district heat sales fell last year by 2.1 percent on the year before, remaining 10 percent lower than in a normal year. The reason for the drop was the warm weather. Last year, district heat sales totalled 29.4 TWh (billion kilowatt hours), with a monetary value of 1.48 billion euros. Adjusted for temperature, district heat sales grew by 3.1 percent. In several conurbations, record numbers of new customers were connected to the district heating networks.

Residential properties accounted for 56 percent of the district heat sales, and the value of district heat sales to residential customers was 828 million euros. At the end of the year, there were 1.2 million residential properties with district heating, with about 2.6 million people living in buildings with district heating. Most public buildings in the country use district heating. Almost half the building stock in Finland is connected to district heating. In the largest cities, the proportion is more than 90 percent. 

Three quarters of district heat from combined heat and power generation 

Last year, the volume of district heat produced was 31.9 TWh. This was 2 percent less than the previous year. 74% of the district heat was obtained from combined heat and power generation. The share of pure district heat produced was 26%. Co-generation with district heating produced 14.66 TWh of electricity. This was about 1.5 percent more than the year before. In combined heat and power generation, a third of the fuel quantity is saved compared to when they are produced separately. The emissions are reduced proportionally.

Carbon dioxide emissions reduced

The carbon dioxide emissions from district heat production amounted to 7.1 million tonnes, which was a little less than the year before. The average emission was 224 g per each kilowatt hour generated.
 
Natural gas still most important fuel

Natural gas was used to generate 36.5 percent of district heat and CHP electricity. The share was up by 2.6 percentage units on the previous year. The share of coal was 23.5 percent. Its use fell by more than two percentage units. The share of peat remained unchanged at approx. 21 percent. The share of wood and wood residue and other domestic renewable fuels, such as biogas and secondary heat from industry, remained at the levels of the previous year, i.e. at 13 percent. Oil was used to produce 4.6 percent of the district heat.

Price of district heat

The mean price of district heat, including energy tax and power charge, was 5.05 cents per kilowatt hour. The average price rose by 10.7 percent on the previous year. The increase meant a rise in the heating costs of a three-roomed apartment of 45 euros/year, and in a detached house of 85 euros/year.  However, the mild weather compensated for the price increase.

Taxes make up about 24 per cent of the price of district heat. Generally, the principal factor influencing the price level is the size of the district heating system. In large conurbations, district heat co-generated economically with electricity. Other factors contributing to the price level of district heat include the fuels used, age of the plant, structure of the conurbation, efficiency of investments, and the owner’s requirements with regard to returns.

Reliability of district heat supply excellent

A district heat customer is likely to have his heat supply disrupted for two hours a year on average. The reliability of district heat supply is 99.98 percent. The outages are caused by system malfunctions and their repairs, but also reasons such as the work involved in connecting up new customers or moving pipelines because of road works. A clear majority of the outages are planned, i.e. the client is notified in advance. 

Reliability of supply is excellent in Finland, even during spells of hardest frosts. Heating outages caused by faults in technical equipment usually affect a very limited number of customers as well as are brief, about 5 hours on average, and they are barely noticeable in room temperatures. About 15 percent of the outages last more than 10 hours, and their effect on room temperatures is only a few degrees at most. The country’s district heat production capacity totals about 20 400 megawatts (MW). The maximum power requirement of clients connected to the district heating networks is about 16 400 MW.

Heating outages due to pure malfunctions of the district heating system, such as network breakdown or faults at the generation plants amount to about one hour per customer per year on average, according to data collected from energy and district heat companies.  Regrettably, individual disruptions caused by technical faults in equipment are unavoidable. The high reliability of district heat supply is mainly due to the systematic quality control, upkeep and preventive maintenance of the entire system and related equipment.

Additional information:
Mirja Tiitinen, Adviser, Tel. +358 (0)9 5305 2305
Jari Kostama, Director, Tel. +358 (0)50 301 1870

District heating year 2008 ppt slides