The Joint Stock Company (JSC) “RĪGAS SILTUMS” is the biggest District Heating (DH) company in Latvia and in the Baltic countries. The company is engaged in the production, transmission, distribution and sales of heat, the simultaneous production of heat and generation of power in cogeneration plants, as well as the servicing of the internal engineering systems of buildings. In addition to that, JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” offers installation of allocators of the payment for space heating at apartment houses, automated data reading from allocators of the payment for space heating and also water and electricity meters. JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” provides heat in Riga to close about 8,000 sites, including more than 5,500 apartment buildings.
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JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” produces heat at 45 heat sources where the production accounts for 31% of the total amount of heat delivered to the DH network of Riga. The company procured the rest of the necessary heat amount from other producers. During 2019, 1.1 million MWh of heat were produced by own heat sources.
Considering the global importance of environmental protection, and in order to contribute to achieving the goals of the Latvian national energy and climate policy, the JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” continues investing in environmentally friendly projects.
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By supporting the European green direction with the attraction of the EU co-financing, implementation of two projects for the use of biomass has been started. In particular, construction of a boiler house with the capacity up to 50 MW at the heat plant “Imanta”, and installation of biomass fired water heating boilers with the capacity of 4 MW each at the heat plant “Daugavgrīva”. At the present, the proportion of the green energy within the heat balance of the JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” is approximately 30 %. In time for the 2020 heating season both projects mentioned above are scheduled to be completed which will allow to increase the proportion to 50%.
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JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” operates approximately 818 km of heat networks. By implementing long-term and targeted modernization of the heat transmission system, JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” has contributed to the preservation of clean environment and security and has also achieved higher economic efficiency. Thus, both the customers of the company as well as the public have gained benefit. The total length of pre-insulated DH networks equaled 280.82 km in 2019 and this accounts for 40% of the total length of the DH networks owned by “RĪGAS SILTUMS”. The measures of reconstruction of the DH system and improvement of efficiency are reflected by the change of heat loss. In 2019 the heat losses amounted to 11.65% of the heat transmitted to the network.
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Our long-term strategy is closely connected with the EU goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” aims are connected to moving towards 100% renewable energy, achieving lower Primary Energy Factor (PEF) as well as integrating the district heating system into the common energy system, as was recently spoken about in the “Powering a climate-neutral economy: An EU Strategy for Energy System Integration”.
Our future priorities are connected with carbon-free and energy-efficient energy production. To achieve strategic goals, JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” plans to develop the following short-term projects:
- Electricity price in Latvia is higher compared to Scandinavian countries. Therefore, JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” provides projects for power generation based on renewables (PV panels). Photo: Gilly on Unsplash
- Even though industrial heat pump technologies are well developed in different European countries, Latvia does not have much experience in using this technology. The integration of industrial heat pumps in heat transmission networks and heat sources are planned development projects.
Photo: Gilly on Unsplash
- JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” has the first experience with low-temperature DH systems implementation projects. JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” in cooperation with the real estate developers “Bonava Latvija” started a project in the Dreilini region in Stopini near Riga. Here, the buildings are connected to the heating networks with a reduced temperature regime of 80/45 (standard 120/70). The required heat capacity of the buildings is 7.4 MW. Currently, six buildings with a total capacity of 2.9 MW are already connected to the heat supply. A new challenge for the company is the development of low-temperature areas in the densely built-up center of Riga.
- Smart energy system solutions implementation is JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” priority direction.
The economic operations of JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” are based on the core principles of efficient management. The company plans implementation of its investment policy for the development and improvement of efficiency of the district heating system of Riga, by ensuring sustainable and stable heat supply to its customers.
JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS” medium and long- term strategies aim to turn Riga into a future European city with an integrated smart energy system.
Article written by Jelena Ziemele, Research & Innovation Manager at JSC “RĪGAS SILTUMS”
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