Business year

BUSINESS YEAR

Helen’s results were in line with plans. The company’s net sales amounted to EUR 746 million and operating profit EUR 114 million. Operating profit accounted for 15 per cent of net sales.

Net turnover, Helen Group

Net turnover € 746 million

 %
Electricity
sale, total
39
Other returns 8
District heating 40
Electricity
transmission
sale
13

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Helen was involved in the SunZeb research project, which confirmed that a significant amount of heat can be recycled from buildings back into the district heating network with the aid of district cooling.

The new Esplanade district cooling storage facility was commissioned in the spring. Helen’s latest project related to energy storage is to implement the largest electricity storage facility in the Nordic countries.

Helen took part in bioenergy research through CLIC Innovation Ltd and in the five-year research programme on carbon capture by the same company.

Distribution of R&D costs

 %
Climate and
environment
(new solutions)
23
Decreasing
current
production
emissions
30
End customer
products
1
Processes 6
New business 35
Managing
assets
5

Total EUR 3,585,000

DISTRICT HEAT AND DISTRICT COOLING

The price of district heat in Helsinki rose by about 4 per cent. At the same time, the overall price of district heat in Helsinki remained over 20 per cent lower than the average price in the country

The demand for district heat fell in the record warm year 2015. District heat sales totalled 6,019 GWh, which is about 7 per cent less than in the previous year. However, the number of district heat connections continued to grow by 1.3 per cent.

The demand for district cooling also fell as the summer was cooler than average, and therefore the cooling need of buildings was smaller than normal. District cooling sales totalled 125 GWh – a reduction of some 5 per cent. On the other hand, the number of district cooling customers increased, and the number of properties connected to district cooling was up by about 10 per cent.

Average price of district heat

€/MWh

 Incl. taxTax-free
2011 58.9 48.0
2012 62.6 50.9
2013 64.2 51.8
2014 62.1 50.1
2015 64.9 52.3

District heat sales

GWh

 Sales adjusted by outside temperatureSales
2011 7034 6441
2012 6985 6763
2013 6912 6449
2014 6966 6377
2015 6927 6019

District heat customers 1970-2015

The amount of customers

  Customers
v. 1970 1682
v. 1980
4954
v. 1990
9022
v. 2015
15040

District heat connection power

MW

 MW
v. 1970 627
v. 1980 1736
v. 1990 2375
v. 2015 3351

ELECTRICITY SALES

A total of 7,122 GWh of electricity was sold. This was at the same level as in 2014 but the net sales of electricity sales fell by 11 per cent due to the reduced electricity market price.

In the graph, the electricity sale price, including tax, for a typical apartment (annual consumption 2,000 kWh) as annual average.

Consumer prices of electricity

c/kWh

 FinlandHelen
2011 9.05 8.59
2012 8.74 8.27
2013 8.81 8.37
2014 8.48 7.97
2015 8.16 7.87

ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION

In the area of Helen Sähköverkko Oy, electricity consumption was at its highest at 5 pm on 22 January 2015. At that time, the peak demand was 766 MW. This was lower than the peak demand of all time (827 MW in 2012).

Electricity transmission sale devided by voltage level

 %
10 ja 20 kV 37.7
110 kV 7.2
0,4 kV 55.1

Consumption of electricity in Helsinki

 Consumption, GWh
2011 4459
2012 4518
2013 4414
2014 4394
2015 4317

 

In 2015, electricity consumption in Helsinki totalled 4,317 MWh, which is 1.8 per cent less than in 2014. 

Reliability of electricity distribution

 The annual interruption duration per client, minutes
2011 5.5
2012 2.2
2013 3.4
2014 2.4
2015 4.1

 

Security of electricity supply in Helsinki had an excellent result. This means that the average outage frequency for an electricity user in Helsinki was 4.1 minutes in the year 2015. 

Energy production

Total electricity procurement remained at the same level as in the previous year. A total of 7,000 GWh of electricity was procured from power plants in Helsinki and through power assets and purchases. The share of emission-free production forms in total electricity procurement was 33 per cent. The share of renewables increased from 11 per cent to 13 per cent.

Electricity supply for wholesale

Energiamuoto%
Coal 18
Nuclear power 20
Renewables 13
Natural gas 49

Cogeneration of heat at the power plants and heating plants in Helsinki

Total 5,673 GWh

 %
CHP
production
94.6
Separate
production
5.4

 

A total of 94.6 per cent of district heat was produced by energy-efficient cogeneration in the Hanasaari, Salmisaari and Vuosaari power plants and in the Katri Vala Heating and Cooling Plant.

Cogeneration of electricity at the power plants in Helsinki

Total 4,639.15 GWh

 %
CHP
production
99
Separate
production
1

 

The power plants in Helsinki produced 67 per cent of the electricity, with the share of combined heat and power generation being 99%.

Origin of district heat

Energiamuoto%
Oil 1
Natural gas 53
Heat pumps 7
Coal 40

 

District heat procurement totalled 6,400 GWh, which is about 7 per cent less than in the previous year. The share of natural gas increased by 5 per cent points and that of coal fell by 5 per cent points on the previous year. The share of district heat produced with a heat pump grew from 5 per cent to 7 per cent.

Origin of district cooling

Energiamuoto%

Absorbtion

14

Sea water 12

Heat pumps

74

 

District cooling production totalled 125 GWh, which is about 4 per cent less than in the previous year.