Helen and Fortum deepen their cooperation – heat trading benefits the entire Helsinki metropolitan area
Helen and Fortum are strengthening their partnership with a new heat trading agreement and by increasing the capacity of the Vermo heat transfer station in Espoo. The upgrade links the district heating networks in the Helsinki metropolitan area more efficiently and makes it possible to transfer heat across city boundaries whenever needed.
The agreement, which entered into force in February, complements the long-standing daily heat trading between Helsinki and Espoo. In the initial phase, the agreement will remain valid until the end of this year, and the parties are currently negotiating longer-term cooperation.
Heat trading enables market-based optimisation of heat production in Helsinki and Espoo and allows heat to be flexibly transferred between the cities. In practice, production is steered based on the prevailing costs and emissions at any given time.
“High heat demand in the Helsinki metropolitan area requires significant investments in electricity-based and flexible capacity. Between 2024 and 2027, Helen will add around 700 megawatts of electricity-based heat production capacity. This will strengthen the system’s flexibility, stabilise the price of district heating and provide residents with even cleaner heat,” says Janne Rauhamäki, Helen’s Director of Development.
To enable heat trading, the Vermo heat transfer station was upgraded and its transfer capacity increased to 50 megawatts. The renewed station strengthens heat transfer between the district heating networks and allows production resources to be used more efficiently across the two cities.
On an annual level, this makes it possible to transfer around 400 gigawatt-hours of heat — enough to heat approximately 50,000 households.
“We have been electrifying heat production for more than 10 years, and we have just built an additional 250 megawatts of electricity-based and flexible capacity. This flexibility and other strengths of the companies can now be utilised across city boundaries, which not only helps maintain competitive customer prices but also improves security of supply,” says Thomas Ekholm, who is responsible for strategy in Fortum’s Heating and Cooling business.
The district heating system enables the use of different production methods and intelligent control. District heat is increasingly produced with electricity-based solutions such as heat pumps, electric boilers and waste heat from data centres. Cooperation between Helen and Fortum makes it possible to use these resources more efficiently across city boundaries and supports both companies’ climate targets.