E-commerce grows district heating significantly

Companies and individuals want to move to Vaggeryd in Sweden, and district heating deliveries are now increasing by at least 30 percent. Vaggeryds Energi is therefore looking at its largest investment ever. FVB was hired to manage the project from start to finish.

E-commerce has grown significantly during the pandemic and there is a need for large storage facilities for these goods. Several warehouses are now being built in Vaggeryd Municipality.

“These companies and several other companies in the municipality want district heating. They see district heating as a simple and reliable solution at a reasonable price,” says Peter Waldenström, District Heating Manager at Vaggeryds Energi. Waldenström continues:

“More and more, companies are asking about our environmental ratings in production. We burn solid wood fuels and return all the ash to the forest. This means that we have very good environmental ratings, which is important to our customers.”

Many homeowners in the municipality also have district heating, and there is great interest in building new single-family homes in Vaggeryd Municipality. Twelve residential plots were recently put up for sale and they sold out in 20 minutes.

Vaggeryds Energi has signed agreements with several new customers, which will lead to an increase in heating deliveries of at least 30 percent. Simultaneous with the demand for heating increasing, the energy company’s current production facilities are getting to be too old. This has led to Vaggeryds Energi making the company’s largest investment ever. They will build a heating plant at a new location in the municipality and also expand the district heating network. Among other things, FVB is responsible for layout design of lines, procurement, permit management, and network calculations.

“We have hired FVB, which has extensive experience with district heating projects. We do not have the right expertise within the company and an investment of this size has to be done right.”

“FVB also has a broad number of consultants who have extensive knowledge of district heating. If anyone at FVB was to quit, there are several others who have similar skills. This is a key part of the risk analysis that we have done,” says Peter Waldenström.