Creating next-level utility infrastructure for industry and municipalities

Municipalities and industry are currently facing significant employment and cost-related pressures. Investments in modern, smart infrastructure solutions are essential for the development of local society: a competitive industrial sector along with a well-functioning municipal infrastructure makes it possible to create new jobs and continue attracting new residents.

Smart infrastructure and modern platform solutions can provide significant economies of scale. By effectively using energy, information and material flows – such as heat, cooling, waste and oat hulls – we can gain cost savings and reduce emissions, both of which are essential as we move towards a carbon-neutral future. Through cooperation between participants such as industry, municipalities and partners we can find the right solutions and investment models.

This cooperation can bring about a positive environmental impact because resources are not consumed unnecessarily – even if they are renewable – and waste is reused or minimised. In this way optimising energy, material and information flows in local ecosystems not only benefits each participant, but the community as a whole.

District heating as a modern platform economy

A good example of a modern platform economy is district heating, where the platform approach enables a more optimal utilisation of energy and material flows. The district heating network is a platform for utilising excess heat from industry, as well as heat storage that makes it possible to optimise energy production. District heating serves as a platform for using by-products from industry – for example, sawdust or oat hulls – as an energy source for heat production. This often means less need for transporting fuel because distances are short.

There’s no need to develop a separate heating solution for each individual building or block of flats; changing heat production to use a renewable method can be achieved through economies of scale. This approach brings benefits to hundreds or even thousands of customers simultaneously. At Nevel we believe that district heating is the easiest way to provide customers with reliable and responsible heating as we move towards a carbon-neutral society.

Digital platforms connect the dots

A good working model brings together industrial and municipal decision makers to plan a solution that makes sense from a social and sustainability point of view and that generates value at every step.

Our solution relies on the expertise of our top professionals as well as our energy industry-leading digital platform. Through our extensive operations in Finland, Sweden and Estonia, we have been able to develop a unique operation model based on digitalisation. This model makes it possible to use massive amounts of data to optimise energy and material flows. Based on the data we collect, and with the help of machine learning, we can produce energy more intelligently and take advantage of economies of scale.

With the platform economy model describe above, we can together work to develop local circular economies.