The power of plants
In the 60s they built a district heating system, in the 90s they switched to biofuels, this year they open Swedens largest combined bio heat and power plant. Söderenergi is doing their part to make sure the Swedes stay warm, and their winters stay cold.
Sweden's largest. The new combined bio heat and power plant at Igelsta (Image by Scheiwiller Svensson Arkitektkontor AB).
The people of Södertälje and southern parts of greater Stockholm have enjoyed the benefits of district heating since the 1960s. In the 1990s th municipalities got together and formed the energy company Söderenergi. During a normal year, Söderenergi's boiling stations generate around 1.8 TWh og thermal energy. Two thirds of which is used for space heating and one third for heating domestic hot water. The length of the pipe network is an impressive 400 km and the water content is 43000 cubic meters.
Clean power
Their next step towards a sustainable society is the Igelsta biofueled, combined power and heat generation plant in Södertälje. This plant is the largest of its kind in Sweden and will generate 200 MW district-heating and 85 MW electricity, enough electricity to power around 100000 households. To the owners of Söderenergi, the municipalities of Huddinge, Borkyrka and Södertälje, this constitute their largest environmental investment ever. The plant at Igelsta will cut Swedish CO2 emissions by about 75000 tons a year. This is the equivalent of 25000 cars driving 15000 km (ca. 9000 miles) a year.
New train terminal
The burner is designed to efficiently burn fuels from different kinds of materials, such as peet, forestry waste and recycled materials. The main fuel however comes from forestry waste, such as branches and tree tops. Much of the waste will arrive by train to their new train terminal in the neighboring municipality of Nykvarn. When the terminal opens, 200000 tons of biofuel is expected to be handled here yearly. The logistics is taken care of by Swedish logistics company Green Cargo. Compared to transportation by heavy trucks, this solution is more environmentally friendly, and reduce emissions of CO2 by 6000 tons a year.
