The European Net Zero Alliance (ENZA) had recently organised an online event addressing ‘System integration in practice’, that took place on December 8^th, 2021.

Through a tour of Europe, the event showcased six projects that are contributing to decarbonisation – an objective that is at the heart of ENZA. The projects presented are run by companies that are members of the associations which make up ENZA, and Solar Heat Europe together with the European solar thermal sector was represented by Antti Lilleberg, VP of Sales and Marketing at Savosolar, a Finnish solar thermal manufacturer.

Antti Lilleberg presented the HIVE project, one of the Helsinki Energy Challenge winners, which aims at decarbonising the city by 2035 through a mix of currently available renewable energy solutions.

HIVE’s proposal is a “baseline scenario” for Helsinki, based on proven technologies and solutions. Sea water heat pumps, electrical boilers, and solar thermal fields are the key new heat production assets to be implemented. In addition, substantial new heat storage capacity will be built, comprising of pit thermal energy storage and borehole thermal energy storage, to ensure both fast response and strategic level storage are adequate.

‘The highlight of HIVE’s plan to decarbonise Helsinki by 2035 is the fact that is based on currently available solutions. Solutions like thermal storage, solar heat, heat pumps, are already available and if applied at larger scale, can decarbonise cities starting now’ said Antti, during his presentation on behalf of HIVE’s project.

The recording of the event is available here.