Helsinki district heating network is a multifuel network that covers over 90% of the heat demand in Finland’s capital, with 14,500 connections and 3,300 MW of heating capacity (Helsingin Energia, 2013). The power plants are CHP using a mixture of fossil fuels, which is more efficient than producing heat and electricity separately. Electricity is also supplied and district cooling is now offered as well, with cooling partly provided from natural temperature difference of sea water and heat pumps (FinPro, 2013).
Waste heat from data centres is also provided to the system and there is a plan to be carbon neutral by 2050. This demonstrates the benefit of the fuel-agnostic network, allowing lower carbon heat sources to be added to the system without major disruption or the expense of new equipment for users.