In 2020 Vantaa Energy made good progress towards fossil-free energy production

Year 2020 was successful for the Vantaa Energy Group both financially and operationally. As a result of several projects launched during the year, Vantaa Energy progressed step by step towards fossil-free energy production in 2026. As a cherry on the cake, our heat customers gave us an all-time best score in the customer satisfaction survey in 2020.

The financial result of the Vantaa Energy Group in 2020 was good. Turnover stood at EUR 217.5 million (EUR 295.1 million in 2019). The fall in turnover is due to the electricity retail sale business moving to Oomi Energia on 1 April 2020.

The Vantaa Energy Group’s operating profit totalled EUR 64.1 million (EUR 58.9 million) in 2020. Comparable operating profit excluding the ownership arrangement of the electricity retail sale business and the sale of properties stood at EUR 51.9 million. The decrease in operating profit in 2020 was contributed to by the fall in electricity market prices and the warmer than average weather, resulting in lower heat consumption.

The Group’s gross investments in fixed assets totalled EUR 133.2 million (EUR 42.3 million). Of this sum, the investments of the parent company Vantaa Energy Ltd in arrangements concerning the electricity retail sales, invoicing and customer service, and the heat business in the Järvenpää and Tuusula regions amounted to EUR 58.5 million. Investments in power plants and heating plants totalled EUR 47.4 million. The largest individual investment, EUR 44.8 million, was made in the extension of the waste-to-energy plant.

The amount spent on the building of the district heating network totalled EUR 6.8 million in 2020. Investments in the security of supply in the district heating networks safeguarded continued high-level security of energy supplies in Vantaa. The customer-specific disturbance time for heat customers in 2020 was record low, only 0.48 hours per customer. (In 2019 0.54 h/customer).

The price of district heat produced by Vantaa Energy is the lowest in the Helsinki region, the lowest in Finland in the summer, and even in the winter it is among the lowest in Finland.

Vantaa also has the most satisfied heat customers in Finland. They gave Vantaa Energy the best score of all time in the customer satisfaction survey in 2020. The general score of the company was 4.22 on a scale of 1–5. In particular, the customers felt that they can recommend Vantaa Energy as a heat company because the willingness to recommend was the best among the district heat companies that took part in the survey.

Out of its result for 2020, Vantaa Energy pays a dividend of about EUR 17.0 million to its owners, the City of Vantaa and the City of Helsinki.

– All in all, I am happy with last year. The coronavirus pandemic had hardly any impact on achieving our targets in 2020, and we progressed steadily towards fossil-free energy production. The achieved result enabled payment of a dividend to the owner cities as planned. We are also particularly happy about the fact that the satisfaction of our heat customers grew to a record level, CEO Jukka Toivonen sums up.

Outlook

Climate change will not wait. Therefore, Vantaa Energy launched in 2020 the Fossil-free 2026 project with an objective of phasing out fossil fuels with a rapid schedule by 2026. The project is a good example of how energy companies can support a rapid achievement of the climate targets of both Finland and the EU through bold measures.

With its investments, e.g. in wind, hydro, nuclear, bio and waste-to-energy power, Vantaa Energy has already halved the carbon dioxide emissions from its energy production over the past decade. Moreover, several projects launched in 2020 are taking Vantaa Energy towards fossil-free production in 2026.

The use of peat in Vantaa will end already in 2021 and the use of coal in 2022 with the completion of the extension to the waste-to-energy power plant.

Other key enablers for phasing out fossil fuels are the world’s largest seasonal heat storage facility planned to be built in the bedrock of Kuusikkomäki in Vantaa, enabling efficient utilisation of waste heat, as well as the synthetic biogas plant, which is under preparation, where clean water and carbon dioxide recovered from the flue gases of the waste-to-heat power plant are converted into methane gas. The produced gas would be suitable as fuel in gas-fired heating plants and, for example, as carbon-neutral fuel in transport.

– Phasing out fossil fuels is particularly important to us because climate change will not wait. We want to be a forerunner in the transition of the energy sector, Jukka Toivonen describes the future plans of the company.

Financial statements of the Vantaa Energy Group 2020

Further information
Jukka Toivonen
CEO, Vantaa Energy Ltd
+358 50 453 6729