Mayor of the City of Espoo Jukka Mäkelä is pleased to hear the St1 news about the construction of the geothermal heat pilot plant in Otaniemi. St1 published a press release today about the investment decision on the power station.

The construction of a geothermal heat pilot plant is significant news as regards the reduction of emissions and climate impact. The heat generated by the pilot plant will be sold to Fortum’s district heating network, where it will cover up to 10% of Espoo’s district heating needs.

“This is a perfect way to support our goal of climate change prevention,” Mäkelä says.

The shared long-term goal of the metropolitan area is carbon-neutrality by 2050 with an interim goal of reducing emissions by a fifth by 2020.

The geothermal heat pilot plant of Espoo is one of the major R&D investments in the Finnish energy industry. The heat pilot plant is expected to be completed in 2017.

According to Mäkelä, the project is a convincing example of the sort of research, development and innovation that Espoo Innovation Garden is looking for.

“The geothermal heat pilot plant shows what opportunities the development zone of the Western Metro Extension can provide as a platform for research, development and testing,” he says.

“We also welcome other operators to exploit the possibilities of the development zone of the Western Metro Extension and to create new competence-intensive businesses and jobs in Finland,” says Tuula Antola, Director for Economic and Business Development for the City of Espoo.

The press release of St1:
St1 has made an investment decision to construct a geothermal heat pilot plant in Otaniemi, Espoo