Carefree and reliable district heating is the most common heating mode in Finland

District Heating Production is Decarbonising

The structure of district heating production in Finland has changed significantly over the past decades. The production has moved toward a much more low-carbon and environmentally friendly direction. Previously, production relied mainly on combined heat and power (CHP) using fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal. In 2010, fossil fuels still accounted for 58% – natural gas 30%, coal 21%, and oil 7%. At that time, renewable energy sources accounted for only 18%, and waste heat recovery was minimal at just 2% of district heating production.

By 2024, the share of renewables, waste heat, and electric boilers in energy production had already reached 73% – renewables 53%, waste heat 16%, and electric boilers 4%. The share of fossil fuels had dropped to just 16% (oil 3%, coal 6%, and natural gas 7%).

Heat travels via network in hot water

Heat is transported through the district heating network via circulating water. When connecting to district heating, a district heating substation is installed in the building. It transfers the heat taken from the district heating network to the building’s heating system and to domestic hot water production via heat exchangers.

Connecting to district heating

In order for a customer to connect to district heating, she or he must first confirm the availability of district heating in his or her municipality. Next, the customer must obtain a district heating substation, which can be purchased, with installation, from a heating contractor or as a turnkey delivery from an energy or district heating company.

District heating delivery

In a district heating network, heat is transmitted to the customer as hot water. The water is transferred to the customer’s heating substation where heat exchangers are used to give off heat for the heating network and for heating domestic hot water.

This heat can be used for ventilation or to heat rooms and domestic hot water. The cooled water then returns back to the production facility to be reheated.

A reliable form of heating

The delivery reliability of district heating is almost 100%. District heating customers spend only 1–2 hours per year without heat on average. Only 27 minutes on average was unplanned outage in year 2024.

Outages may arise from damage to the network and its repair, or during the connection of new customers to the district heating network. Attempts are often made however to time outages outside of the heating season using temporary solutions.