Business year

Business year

Helen Group’s results exceeded the forecast level, but remined clearly below the previous year’s level. The Group’s turnover stood at EUR 782 million (EUR 746 million) and operating profit at EUR 75 million (EUR 110 million). Operating profit accounted for 9.6 per cent of turnover.

Net turnover, Helen Group

Net turnover € 782 million

Research and development

The concept development of new bioenergy heating plants progressed. The construction of a large pellet-fired heating plant started in Salmisaari. The pellet-fired heating plant will be completed in early 2018.

Helen commissioned the largest electricity storage facility in the Nordic countries, located in the Suvilahti district of Helsinki. It was introduced as part of the joint Nordic electricity system in August. Together with Helen Electricity Network Ltd and the national grid company Fingrid Oyj, Helen launched a three-year research project promoting the utilisation of electricity storage facilities.

The multi-annual BEST, CCS and FLEXe research programmes implemented by Clic Innovation Oy and the EU project CITYOPT were completed.

Distribution of R&D costs

Total EUR 4,907,855.

District heat and district cooling

The price of district heat in Helsinki rose by about 3 per cent. At the same time, the overall price of district heat in Helsinki remained about 20 per cent lower than the average price in the country.

The cold January and cool summer in 2016 increased the demand for district heat on the previous year.

At 6,633 GWh, the sale of district heat grew by 10 per cent on the previous year. The number of district heat connections continued to grow, standing at 15,182.

The sale of district cooling increased significantly as a result of new customers. The sale of district cooling energy grew by 13 per cent on the previous year to 141 GWh. The number of district cooling connections totalled 337 at the end of 2016.

Average price of district heat

€/MWh

District heat customers

The amount of customers

District heat connection power

MW

Electricity sales

A total of 6,649 GWh of electricity was sold. This was down by 7 per cent on the previous year.

The market price of electricity remained at a low level with the exception of a temporary price spike in the autumn.

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

Electricity distribution

Electricity distribution in Helsinki grew by 2 per cent to 4,424 GWh.

Distribution of electricity consumption in Helsinki 2016

Consumption of electricity in Helsinki in total

The electricity consumption of Helsinki residents in 2016 totalled 4,424 GWh, which is about 2.5 per cent higher than in the previous year.

Reliability of electricity distribution

The security of electricity supply was even higher than before. An electricity user in Helsinki had, on average, only one power cut lasting 1.9 minutes during the year.

Energy production

A total of 6,460 GWh of electricity was procured from power plants in Helsinki and through power assets. The share of emission-free production forms in total electricity procurement was approximately 38 per cent. The share of renewables increased by 13 per cent to 15 per cent.

Electricity supply for wholesale

Heat production at the power plants and heating plants in Helsinki

Total 6,633 GWh

A total of 91 per cent of district heat was produced in energy-efficient cogeneration in the Hanasaari, Salmisaari and Vuosaari power plants and in the Katri Vala heating and cooling plant.

Electricity production at the power plants in Helsinki

Total 4,002 GWh

The power plants in Helsinki produced 62 per cent of the electricity, with the share of combined heat and power generation being 100 per cent.

Origin of district heat

District heat procurement totalled 7,100 GWh, which is about 11 per cent more than in the previous year.

In 2016, the amount of energy we produced by coal increased and, correspondingly, the share of natural gas production decreased. This is due to changes in the energy market, which have resulted in higher profitability of energy produced with coal.

The production of renewable energy also grew. We produced more district heat with heat pumps than ever before, 490 GWh.

Origin of district cooling

District cooling production totalled 141 GWh, which is about 13 per cent more than in the previous year.