Members of the GeoAlliance project have visited Hafslund Celsio’s waste-to-energy plant at Klemetsrud, in the outskirts of Oslo, and documented the Oslo innovative heating system and the 8500 m3 hot water thermal storage as well as future projects for Carbon Capture and Storage and Microenergy System at Furuset.
The project “Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development” (GeoAlliance), funded through the EEA and Norwegian Grants Program, is a collaborative initiative between the University of Bucharest’s Faculty of Geology and Geophysics and PSS-GEO, operating under the umbrella of the Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and Smart City Development.
In Oslo, the capital of Norway, a remarkable transformation is unfolding—one that turns the city’s waste into heating and hot tap water for its homes and businesses. Because of an advanced energy-from-waste system, Oslo is seen as a flagship for how cities recycle large amounts of their waste into fraction that can be recycled and reused, solving the problem with residual waste, and at the same time reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.
Every year, 350 000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste are incinerated at Hafslund Celsio’s waste-to-energy plant. The excess energy is used to produce heat that powers the city’s extensive district heating network. Excess heat from two waste-to-energy plants accounted for 50.7% of the total energy used by the district heating system in 2023. The remaining inputs come from the excess heat from a data center, different forms of bioenergy and electricity, when electricity is cheaper than the alternatives. The company has a goal to not use fossil fuels in the production of district heating, and in 2023, only 1.5% of the energy used was fossil.
The district network consists of a closed-loop web of underground pipelines of about 700 km and distributes heat to homes, schools, and businesses, covering over 1.5 million square meters of building space, while recirculating 30 million liters of water above 100 degrees Celsius.
Another innovative heating solution implemented in Oslo comes from an unexpected source: the city’s sewage systems (8.9% at the level of 2023). Advanced heat pumps recover thermal energy from wastewater, providing additional heating for the district network.
Oslo innovative heating system started from the idea that waste is a climate issue that does not get enough attention, landfills being among the largest sources of emissions of methane, a more potent climate gas than CO2. Although by treating waste at a modern waste to energy facility the CO2 emission increases, the local negative climate effects overall are reduced, and the excess energy from the process of burning waste can be used to decrease the use of fossil fuels.
However, for the moment, Hafslund waste-to-energy plant is the city’s largest point of emission of CO2, with 19% of all city’s fossil CO2 being emitted by the plant. As a result, within an ambitious climate strategy, Hafslund develops an innovative project meant to lead to the capturing of 90% of all CO2 in the flue gas emitted at their plant. Accordingly, by 2030, they aim to capture and permanently store 350 000 tonnes of CO2 per year in a reservoir below the seabed in the North Sea. The capture and storage project is supported by the Norwegian government and is sailing under the Viking name, Longship.
As GeoAlliance project director Florina Tuluca points out “Oslo’s sustainable heating system is more than just infrastructure—it stands as a testimony for how cities can transform environmental challenges into opportunities. As the city continues to expand its carbon capture facilities and explore new renewable technologies, it offers a glimpse into a future where waste is no longer a problem but a vital part of the solution.
Oslo’s journey towards sustainable heating proves that, by investing in cutting-edge technologies and by embracing a circular economy, any city could become a model of urban sustainability, and we can only hope that Romanian cities will soon follow this remarkable example.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Truls Jemtland and Fredrik Thorbjørnsen (Hafslund Celsio AS experts) for sharing their insights and providing an informative tour of the waste-to-energy plant”.
The complete program of the event is available here.
More information about the project “Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development” (GeoAlliance) can be accessed on the project’s website, here.
The project nr. 2024/39508 – Driving Sustainable Urban Futures: A Romanian-Norwegian Innovation Geophysical Alliance for Green Transition and SMART City Development is co-financed by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA Grants Romania 2014-2021, in the frame of the SME Growth Programme Romania.
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