The Swedish Prime minister and the three leaders of the coalition parties of the Swedish Government recently visited ClimateWell to discuss the company’s new technology to recover waste heat from the Steel and Paper industries, and thereby strengthen the industry’s competitiveness and at the same time increase Sweden’s exports of energy technology.

Last October, ClimateWell announced a partnership with Ecostorage, energy storage systems experts, and SSAB, the Swedish steel giant, to develop a demonstration system for large scale energy transportation of waste heat from steel mills, in a project sponsored by the Swedish energy agency. According to the company’s press release, the innovation makes it possible for such energy intensive industries, including paper, to recover and sell their waste heat for heating and cooling. An interesting example would be to capture the waste heat, in this case at SSAB’s steel mill in Oxelösund Sweden, transport it by boat to London and deliver it as Air Conditioning to London offices and hospitals. It is that way possible to reduce the CO2 emissions far more than what is stated in the EU objectives for 2020. The Swedish industry maintains, at the same time, its competitiveness in a world of higher energy costs and tougher requirements on CO2 reductions.

When examining the Swedish industry there is some 100 TWh of waste heat every year. Waste heat that is not used today since it is either in the wrong place or at a too low temperature. “The potential to use industrial waste energy is enormous and could mean that a fifth of Sweden’s energy consumption could be free from CO2 emissions”, says ClimateWell CTO Göran Bolin.

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