Under project SMARTrenew, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, together with Evo, is piloting a major heat storage solution for district heating in Kuusamo, Finland with the installation of a 500m3 heat storage tank.
EVO is the water and energy co-operative that is responsible for district heating, water treatment and clean water distribution in Kuusamo.
When the CHP and biopower plants cannot generate enough heat to cover the needs of the entire customer base, EVO needs to use its oil burning, auxiliary, heat-only boilers to generate the needed additional heat. To solve this problem, EVO, in cooperation with Oulu University of Applied Sciences, under SMARTrenew, is building a 500m3 heat storage to be connected to the district heating network.
Utilizing this heat storage solution, EVO could reduce its need to use oil for additional heating. In the current district heating system in Kuusamo, the main plant produces the required heat using mainly wood based fuel. During very cold weather the heat production from the main plant is not enough to match the heat demands and auxiliary systems are being used. The auxiliary systems are operated with oil based fuel. The SMARTrenew pilot aims to replace auxiliary oil systems with renewable, heat storage solutions.