The heating and cooling plant built by energy company Loimua at SSAB’s Hämeenlinna site is now complete and operational. The plant utilizes waste heat from SSAB Hämeenlinna in the city’s district heating network and covers about 15% of Hämeenlinna’s district heating needs.
The closed cooling water system at the Hämeenlinna plant circulates water to cool all production lines. In practice, the waste heat is utilized by transferring water from the plant’s auxiliary cooling basin through a pipe to the heat pump plant, and the cooled water returns to the basin via another pipe. About 2.5 km of district heating pipeline has been built between SSAB’s plant and the power plant.
At the heating and cooling plant, the temperature is raised to about 85°C and transferred via a pipeline to Loimua’s Vanaja power plant, where it is further heated if necessary to match the district heating network requirements. SSAB has arranged electricity supply, as well as water and sewage connections for the heating and cooling plant. Loimua has handled the construction work otherwise.