EGI Master students visit Högdalenverket
The visit gave students an opportunity to see how waste can be used as an energy resource while also being treated to reduce its environmental impact.
Second-year students from KTH’s MSc Sustainable Energy Engineering programme recently visited Högdalenverket (Högdalen Heat and Power plant), one of Stockholm Exergi ’s major energy production facilities.
The visit gave students an opportunity to see how waste can be used as an energy resource while also being treated to reduce its environmental impact.
From waste to energy
At Högdalenverket, waste is used as fuel to produce both electricity and district heating. During the process, the flue gases are cleaned to remove pollutants and environmental contaminants.
The facility has the capacity to receive up to 700,000 tonnes of waste per year. The heat produced is supplied to southern Stockholm through the southern district heating network. This network is connected to Söderenergi’s district heating network and, since 2007, also to the district heating network in central Stockholm through pipes beneath Riddarfjärden.
The combination of waste treatment and energy production makes the facility an interesting example of how different parts of an urban energy system can be integrated.
Learn more about waste-to-energy: Fortum - Waste-to-Energy sustainability solution
A long history of energy production
Högdalenverket has been used as a waste incineration facility since 1970, when household waste was converted into electricity instead of being sent to landfill.
As Stockholm’s district heating network expanded, the facility was gradually developed into a combined heat and power plant. In 1979, the conversion was completed and Högdalenverket began producing both electricity and heat.
The facility has continued to evolve in response to changing energy and waste-management needs. Additional waste-fired boilers were introduced over the following decades, including a boiler designed to handle industrial waste and another for household waste. The former oil-fired boiler is now operated using bio-oil and is used for peak production.
Today, Högdalenverket has two steam turbines for electricity production. G1 has a capacity of 27 MW, while G6 has a capacity of approximately 44 MW.
Connecting theory with practice
For students in Sustainable Energy Engineering, the visit provided an opportunity to connect concepts studied in courses such as thermodynamics, energy conversion and sustainable energy systems with a large-scale operating facility.
Seeing the equipment, processes and infrastructure in practice provides a different perspective on how energy systems work and how they are integrated into a city such as Stockholm.
Visits to industrial facilities are an important part of giving students a broader understanding of the technical, environmental and societal dimensions of sustainable energy systems.
We thank Stockholm Exergi for welcoming our students and providing them with an opportunity to learn more about waste-to-energy, combined heat and power, and Stockholm’s district heating system.