Mikkeli city, the home of Savosolar received the “Inspiring Solution Award” in 2018 Celsius City Summit for the Ristiina Village project. It is a green district heating energy concept with a clever combination of solar thermal and wood chips.
Savosolar was involved in this award winning project by delivering turn-key solar district heating installation to the Ristiina district heating plant.
Swimming halls are very well suited for solar thermal production. Typically, their heat consumption is big and the required temperature level tends to be relatively low. In such cases solar thermal collectors are operating with a very high efficiency.
However, quite often swimming halls are closed some time of the year and summertime closure may mean extra challenges for solar heat supply.
For Hämeenlinna swimming hall Savosolar solved this issue by feeding surplus solar energy in summer to the nearby district heating network. Thus, the solar system is producing heat all days and depending on the swimming hall’s actual heat demand, the facility is either a district heating provider or a consumer.
As a general contractor, Savosolar built a solar thermal system on behalf of Fernwärme Ettenheim GmbH for the largest possible solar feed-in into the existing district heating network. 112 pieces Savo 15 SG-M large collectors generate fuel-free healthy heat, which is temporarily stored in two 100 m³ buffer storage tanks.
This also allows the operating hours of the CHP and the biomass boiler to be optimized. The scope of delivery included the fence and video surveillance system, as well as the creation of a meager meadow to enrich local biodiversity.
The construction work was temporarily interrupted due to the COVID19 restrictions. All system hydraulics were completely housed in a container. The keys were handed over in October 2020.
A PV system still to be built on the east side will generate the electricity for the pumps in the future.
The picture on the left shows the boiler house and the buffer storage tank. Handover of keys from Jari Varjotie, CEO Savosolar Oyj, to Peter Blaser, managing director of the customer.
This solar thermal plant, the largest in Europe for industrial process, will deliver on average 4,000 MWh/year of heat. It will cover nearly 32% of the heated water need for the steam generation in the local paper mill. With the very high solar yield – more than 1,000 kWh/m2 – this solar thermal field is the first of its kind in the world due to Savosolar high efficiency solar collectors installed on a single-axis tracking system, manufactured and installed for Savosolar by Arcelormittal, Project Exosun. 66 tilting structures, each carrying four 16 m2 collectors, follow the sun from morning to evening and maximize the heat production.
The project was developed and financed by NewHeat and Savosolar acted as the EPC contractor. Meaning, Savosolar designed the whole system, delivered the solar collectors, and realized the installation with local French companies. This installation will be a reference for the huge growing market of heat-as-a-service for industrial clients in France and world-wide.
