Central Finland Region, Finland

Keywords: renewable energy region, 100% renewable energy self sufficiency region, Central Finland Region, renewable energy in Central Finland Region.


Central Finland is a region in the province of Western Finland.[1] It is an area of typical Finnish region with landscape forest and lakes.[2] It borders to the region Päijänne Tavastia, Pirkanmaa, Southern Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, Northern Ostrobothnia, Northern Savonia and Southern Savonia (Figure 1). Jyväskylä is the regional center and the largest city in the area.[1]

Figure 1. Map of Central Finland in Finland[3][4]

The region of Central Finland (Figure 1) has 271,000 inhabitants[6], lake side is 68m/inhabitant. It consists of 30 towns and townships[5] and 23 municipalities (2009). Land area of the region is about 1,7 Mha. Forest area account for 84% of the total area of this region.[6] The forest area in this region accounts for 10% of total area of Finland country.[5] Lakes and rivers account for 0.3 Mha of the total area in the region.[6] With the capital city located in Jyväskylä, Central Finland region is the the second biggest electricity consumer in Finland, third largest forest industry concentrated in Finland, and has some strong metal industries such as paper machines, wind mill components, tractors, bio-boilers, etc. There is also famous university town in this region, Jyväskylä University.[6]


Renewable Energy Development
In the region of Central Finland, energy has an important sector in the economic development. GNP from energy sector is about 14% of total GNP in the region. Thousands of inhabitants are employed in the field of forestry and energy related industry. There are some parties involved in the development of renewable energy. They are the Regional Council of Central Finland, the municipalities in Central Finland (in total 30), the University of Jyvaskyla and lower degree institutes and schools, R&D centers in the region, the manufacturing industry, relevant organizations, and also individuals.[2]

In the field of renewable and indigenous energy, this region has played remarkable role since in the mid of 1970s. It is happened when the first wood fired plant operated in Jyväskylä. During the last few decades, they have increased the utilization of renewable energy.[2] The share of renewable energy in Central Finland is up to 35% of total energy consumption with biofuel (23% in whole Finland). If peat is included, the energy self sufficiency is 45% (Figure 2).[4]

Figure 2. Energy Balance[6]

The Central Finland region has set up some targets in relating with renewable energy development. They are reducing greenhouse gases, improving self sufficiency and security of energy supply in the region, and to be independent from imported oil by year 2015. For that reason, this region has lunched a program "Dynamic by Bioenergy" This is a program cluster based on business development strategy for the period 2007-2015. Coordinated by the Jyväskylä University Applied of Sciences, today, there are 30 companies and institutions involved and committed to the program aim.[7]


Bioenergy
Bioenergy is one of the natural strength in the Central Finland region. This region is rich with forest and peat resources. Some current status of bioenergy development in Central Finland region are:[6]
  • producing almost 10 TWh bioenergy from local sources. It accounts 50% of energy consumption
  • covering over 80% of local heat and electricity production with biomass
  • there are 9 wood-burning CHP power stations (10 - 480 MW, total 1600 MW)
  • there are more than 80 heating plants (0.5 - 40 MW) operating on biofuel
  • there are around 800 heating units (10 - 400 kW) in individual buildings with operating on biofuel
  • there are R & D and training networks in the bioenergy sector


Information Related


List of References
  1. Central Finland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Finland. Accessed November 19, 2009.
  2. Central Finland - the Show Window of Sustainable Energy Technology. http://www.iclei-europe.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ClimateAir/finland.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2009.
  3. Map of Finland. http://i.infoplease.com/images/mfinland.gif. Accessed November 19, 2009.
  4. Development of a Bioenergy Network in Northern Central Finland. http://www.lapinliitto.fi/bestpractice/presentations/files/Esitys_11_Bio-Energy.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2009.
  5. Regional Renewable Energy in Central Finland. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/40/37599109.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2009.
  6. Bioenergy Development in Finland Region. http://www.pelletclub.jp/jp/data/09/0713_network/nagano_2009.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2009.
  7. The Renewable Energy Cluster Program of Central Finland 2007-2015. http://www.keskisuomi.fi/filebank/1755-bev_profile_for_valencia_2008.pdf. Accessed November 7, 2009.

Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)