Since more than a year now, the Swedish energy company Karlshamn Energi is busy making its district heating system more efficient.

“It is all based on the notion that we must work with more focus on district heating. Everyone in these operations must aim for the same objective and when they do, one of the benefits will be more efficient operations,” says Mr. Bo Johansson, heating manager at Karlshamn Energi.
Mr. Johansson took the initiative, wanting to find a way of working systematically and efficiently, from heat generation to customer radiators.
“It is easy to end up in technical discussions and obviously district heating is much about technology, but it is also important to engage those who are working with market, economy and service issues,” Mr. Johansson underlines.
“And so one of the challenges in this efforts is precisely to get the broad consensus and anchorage which produce long-term results and sustainability,” Mr. Johansson says.

Find cost reductions

Mr. Håkan Walletun of FVB has been assisting him. They have been working according to a model developed by Mr. Walletun, designed for work rendering various district heating systems more efficient. The model comprises various data compilations, as well as a calculation called LAVA. Using that, one can pinpoint which costs could be reduced in a district heating system if temperature levels are lowered. In order to get the necessary consensus and at the same time increase knowledge in the company, Mr. Johansson and Mr. Walletun have arranged a number of workshops with Karlshamn Energi staff. In these, the participants have received various tasks to solve before the next meeting.

“Bringing in an external expert makes the personnel get more aware of the issue. Håkan has been engaged in it for a long time and he is really fervourous about these problems, and that is most valuable,” Mr. Johansson says.

Pride in one´s craft

When it comes to benefits, most companies would save money through a project like this, also Karlshamn, but Mr. Johansson also mentions taking pride in one´s craft.

“Moneywise the results could be somewhat limited. To a large extent our production is based on waste heat from the Södra Cell pulp factory, so we would not earn much money by lowering return water temperature. The great benefit is rather, in my opinion, that our staff will increase pride in their craft. Their skills get the credit for a low return temperature. Also, this is a survival prerequisite when it comes to customer relations,” Mr. Johansson thinks.

But even if money is not the first thing mentioned by Mr. Johansson, there is of course money to be made. Every degree due to better cooling creates a value which depends on the structure of the system and the operational strategy. At Karlshamn Energi a first target for 2008 is to lower return temperature from 53 to 50 degrees centigrade.

“It may seem a humble target, but it is mentally important that we succeed in reaching it. Next year we will set the target higher. We will also start working with pressure balancing in the system,” Mr. Johansson concludes.