Helsinki does not warm to Fortum’s idea of nuclear district heat

Mayor Pajunen shrugs off Fortum’s offer to Helsinki of up to 50% stake in nuclear plant

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By Jarmo Huhtanen
     
      On Monday, the energy company Fortum presented its report compiled by a consulting company on nuclear district heat.
      According to the report the use of nuclear heat is the most efficient way to reduce the energy production-related carbon dioxide emissions in the capital area.
      According to the calculations by Pöyry Energy Consulting, the City of Helsinki would benefit from acquiring its energy from the planned new nuclear power plant in nearby Loviisa.
      The state-of-the-art plant would produce both electricity and district heat.
      Fortum suggests that the capital area would commit itself to acquiring its energy for the most part from Loviisa between 2020 and 2080. The present coal-fired power plants would remain as a backup system.
     
Fortum is ready to accept Helsinki as a partner in the new power plant, if Parliament is to grant it a building permit.
      “We are talking about a substantial share in the project. We would certainly be near the 50 per cent mark”, promises Fortum President and CEO Tapio Kuula.
      “The undertaking would require a common vision from the capital area. In addition to Helsinki, the city of Espoo would also have to be convinced to join in.”
      Fortum is prepared to fit the power plant with the kind of technology that enables district heating, even if Helsinki did not yet want to commit to acquiring nuclear district heating. For Fortum, the technology would come with an additional price tag of EUR 100 million.
      “We trust that sooner or later there will be demand for the option”, Kuula declares.
     
The city officials immediately presented the fresh report to Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen.
      The consulting firm’s calculations could not have impressed Pajunen less.
      “I do not see nuclear district heat as a viable option. It is not a sensible alternative”, Pajunen said.
      “Cost-effectiveness depends a great deal on the initial data. In reality the future of the energy field cannot possibly be reliably predicted for more than ten years ahead.”
     
According to Helsinki’s own calculations by a external consultant, the investment in a nuclear power plant would cost between 2.5 and 3.5 billion euros.
      “It is simply not wise to bind the city’s heating to a single technology for the next sixty years”, Pajunen summarises.
     
City Council Chairman Otto Lehtipuu (Green League) also takes a somewhat indifferent attitude towards the nuclear heating pipe.
      “Fortum’s report has the advantage that there are several alternatives to choose from. In my view Fortum’s suggestion is not among the top candidates.”
      Lehtipuu is concerned over the accuracy of the nuclear district heat cost-benefit assessment as well as the system’s maintenance reliability.
      “From the point of view of maintenance reliability, it is unrealistic to think that the entire region would receive its heat through a single pipeline. But my biggest personal reservations are towards the nuclear power plant itself. It is anything but a sustainable solution.”
     
A week ago Helsinki Energy presented its own vision on the city’s long-term energy alternatives. These alternatives relied heavily on bio and wind power.
      The Helsinki City Council is likely to look into the energy alternatives in April.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 19.1.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki´s Hanasaari B power plant to close down by 2025, Vuosaari to receive new unit (13.1.2010)
  Nuclear power could provide district heating for most of the capital region (11.2.2009)

Links:
  Fortum
  Fortum press release, 18.1.2010
  District Heating (Wikipedia)

JARMO HUHTANEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jarmo.huhtanen@hs.fi