Norway. Hafslund ASA

The 8-year-maturity loan totalling EUR 19 million has been provided to finance the construction of a new 13-km-long pipeline between the Norwegian energy company’s two district heating networks in Oslo. Hafslund’s new pipeline will enable more efficient utilisation of the current waste-based heat production, and an enlargement of the district heating networks in the capital city.

One of Hafslund’s two waste-to-energy plants in Oslo is currently releasing about 50 GWh of energy into the air each year. This energy could have been used if the two district heating areas in Oslo were connected. By connecting the two networks, as much energy as possible from the two waste-to-energy plants can be used as heating for the city’s inhabitants. In addition, one of the waste-to-energy plants is expected to be extended shortly and the new heating line will have the capacity to distribute the future extra heat production. In Oslo, district heating normally replaces local central heating systems run on oil and thereby decreases greenhouse gas emissions.

Hafslund is the largest distribution network owner and the largest power sales provider in Norway, as well as a significant producer of renewable energy. Hafslund has been producing hydropower for more than a century and is committed to the development of bioenergy, district heating and solar energy in order to meet the energy needs of the future.

The construction of a new pipeline connecting two separate district heating networks will enable nearly all the heat generated at the waste incineration plant to be used and save several thousand tons of fossil fuels annually. Emissions to the air will decrease and improve the air quality in central Oslo.The loan will be financed under NIB’s CLEERE facility.