Meet the buyer med Espoo

Espoo is the second-largest city in Finland with 280.000 residents and a part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Espoo aims to be Europe’s most sustainable city and carbonneutral in the 2020s. Clean technology solutions will be developed and implemented with partners to support sustainable growth. Together with businesses, the city is at the forefront of smart urban development, climate work and the circular economy.

The Meet the buyer will be kicked off with a webinar. Sign up here: The Future of the Built Environment 

What are they looking for?

The energy sector is at a turning point. The transition to low-emission energy production methods and new smart technologies is shaping the operating environment. At the same time, energy production is being dispersed even to the property or flat level – anyone can become a producer and distributor of energy. This upheaval is further being increased by the opportunities presented by digitalisation and the electrification of transport.

An energy ecosystem has been outlined for the Kera district in Espoo to respond to the challenges of the future. The objective is for energy production, distribution and management to take place in a multifaceted manner as a whole, serving the citizens in Kera. In practice, the new ecosystem could mean, among other things, regional and city block-specific energy production, a smart grid, smart buildings, household demand response, energy storage and energy communities.

The goal of future energy services is for solutions to be easy and cost-effective for the citizens and, at the same time, low in emissions, supporting the regional carbon neutrality target. The development of Kera’s new energy services and solutions is an example of cooperation that breaks organisational boundaries and is based on a new kind of voluntary multi-operator model, an energy ecosystem.

City of Espoo together with The Six City Strategy and in collaboration with Smart Otaniemi innovation ecosystem, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., Aalto University Startup center and Kirahub are looking for solutions for the following topics related to the development of the Kera area and especially to area’s energy services:

1. Energy communities: Service design and concept
2. 2-way low-heat network – How to get the properties to produce and supply energy to the grid and exploit the investment potential?
3. Electricity and heat energy stores – How to implement?
4. Producing electricity in the area – How to create cost-effective model?