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Laanila eco power plant converts municipal and industrial waste from across Northern Finland into process steam, electricity and heat. In the joint venture, Oulun Energia is preparing to invest in a waste processing facility that would sort around 45,000 tonnes of biodegradable material from 130,000 tonnes of household general waste each year. Gasum would be responsible for processing the biodegradable waste into biogas and for processing it into a transport fuel.

”A considerable amount of biodegradable waste ends up in general household waste in particular. The treatment process also allows for the recovery of other materials before incineration,” says Pertti Vanhala, Business Director at Oulun Energia.

Biogas helps to curb traffic emissions

Gasum plans to invest not only in the envisaged biogas plant but also in a gas liquefaction unit to enable the biogas produced to be processed into a fuel for heavy duty vehicles. The Laanila plant would be just the second liquefied biogas production plant in Finland.

”Since heavy duty vehicles cannot readily be electrified, liquefied biogas provides the best avenue to cut emissions in truck transport. In May, we opened two new gas filling stations in Oulu, one of which is intended for heavy duty vehicles. During the coming years, Gasum intends to build a total of 50 new liquefied gas filling stations in the Nordic countries,” says Ari Suomilammi, Director, Circular Economy Finland, Gasum.

Besides the new biogas plant, Gasum also plans to enlarge the existing biogas plant in Rusko. The Rusko biogas plant uses separately collected biowaste and local sewage sludge as feedstock from which recycled nutrients are also produced.

Studies show that the Laanila biogas plant would produce around 40,000 MWh of biogas a year. There are plans to increase annual production at the Rusko biogas plant by 20 000 MWh. This additional production would be sent to Laanila for liquefaction and would bring the total annual production of liquefied biogas to 60,000 MWh.

”Together, these projects would produce enough liquefied biogas to replace diesel as fuel in around 120 trucks. Biogas cuts traffic emissions by up to 85% compared with diesel,” Ari Suomilammi sums up.

Local interest is growing in using biogas to reduce traffic emissions. The City of Oulu recently decided to acquire five biogas-powered buses for one of the city’s bus routes.

Aiming to commission the plant in 2021

The environmental impacts of the project have already been assessed and the next steps are to update Laanila eco power plant’s environmental permit and work on the technical design of the project. This will be followed by any investment decision. Similarly, a start has been made on updating the environmental permit for the Rusko biogas plant. The aim is for the Laanila biogas plant to complete during 2021.

“This investment would take the biogas economy forward across Northern Finland by using the latest technology,” Ari Suomilammi and Pertti Vanhala point out.

Alternative fuel options for traditional fossil fuels are gaining popularity as new emission reduction targets are being set nationally in Sweden as well as internationally by the European Union. The need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions fast in road transportation is affecting heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) as well. Earlier this year the EU agreed to set emissions standards for new HDVs for the first time. According to the new standards, the average CO2 emissions of new HDVs need to be 15% lower in 2025 than in 2019, and at least 30% lower in 2030. Sweden has also set a national target to reduce CO2 emissions from domestic traffic by at least 70% by 2030. In addition, customer demand for environmentally friendly products and services is increasing rapidly.

In order to respond to the growing demand of low emission fuel options, energy company Gasum is planning to build a network of 50 liquefied gas filling stations for HVDs by early 2020s in the Nordics. The new network of stations offers logistic companies liquefied natural gas (LNG) as well as liquefied biogas (LBG) and is seen as a necessity in the transition to a cleaner future as it offers cleaner fuels for HDVs. The new filling stations will be built in high traffic areas. The Norrköping station is located close to the E 4 route, which makes it easy for HDVs to access it and refuel. Gasum has one filling station for HDVs in Västerås, Sweden and already six filling stations in Finland. Altogether, the company has more than 30 gas filling stations for different vehicle segments in Sweden and Finland.

“Climate change affects all of us and we need to solve it together. Based on market demand, Gasum is building a network of filling stations in the Nordics in close co-operation with several partners. This development will accelerate the growth of gas-based hauling in the Nordics and at the same time offer logistic companies sustainable fuel options that will help them reach their environmental targets. As an added bonus, they will also make significant savings in fuel costs,” says Mikael Antonsson, Director, Traffic, Gasum Sweden.

At the new filling station that is opening today, customers can fuel their HDVs with LNG or LBG. The use of LNG and LBG as fuel reduces CO2 emissions and local particulate emissions significantly, which improves local air quality. With the use of LNG, CO2 emissions can be reduced by approximately 20% compared to traditional fuels, and with LBG the reduction is as much as 85%. The Norrköping station, as well as the Västerås station, have been identified as environmentally sustainable investments and therefore been partially financed through the government’s Klimatklivet (climate investment program).

“We wanted to update our vehicle fleet from diesel to liquefied gas since the economic and environmental benefits are significant for us as a logistics company. In cooperation with Gasum we have worked tirelessly on this initiative to have station here in Norrköping, and it is great to see that our hard work finally has paid off,” comments Erik Alfredsson, CEO, Alfredsson Transport AB.

The two new stations built by Gasum form the beginning of a filling station network that will cover the Nordics. At the end of the summer, Gasum will expand its network with LNG/LBG stations in Jönköping and Örebro followed by more stations later in the year. In addition to these stations, Gasum and several other fuel companies are planning to build gas filling stations in the near future, further expanding the network.