Page 14 - European Energy Innovation - Spring 2015 publication
P. 14
Spring 2015 European Energy Innovation

COMMUNICATION

Waste-to-energy Agency (EGE),
City of Oslo

The Waste-to-Energy Oslo has ambitious goals for would otherwise have ended up
Agency (EGE) has its environmental policies, in landfills), CO2 emissions are
200 employees, and and is keen on becoming one reduced by 600 kg per ton of
develops and operates of the leading international waste.
industrial waste-to-energy plants. environmental cities. The
The agency receives and recycles city’s environmental vision is HEATING OSLO
waste from Oslo households “We will hand the city to the Waste management in the
and businesses. Source-sorted next generation in a better city of Oslo is based on the
household waste from Oslo’s environmental condition than philosophy that waste should be
population is received at the when we received it.” processed through a “life cycle
EGE optical sorting plant, where waste system”. This means that all
green bags containing food WASTE FROM EUROPEAN household waste that cannot be
waste and blue bags containing ACTORS recycled is recovered as energy.
plastic waste are separated from EGE has the capacity to recover Heat energy from residual waste
residual waste with the aid of energy from 410,000 tons of is used for district heating for
optical scanners. The plastic waste annually, and produces residential and office buildings,
from the blue bags are recycled 900 GWh of district heat and 160 as well as public buildings. EGE’s
into new plastic products, while GWh of electricity. The agency district heating production
food waste from the green bags sells some of its energy recovery currently constitutes about 50%
is used to produce biogas and capacity to European actors, of the energy needs for Oslo’s
biofertilizer. Burnable residual and in 2014 it received approx. district heating system. One major
waste becomes eco-friendly 80,000 tons of sorted waste from alternative to district heating is oil
district heating and electricity. England. With focus on efficient heating, and four tons of waste
Flue gas from the incinerators logistics and a quality value can replace one ton of oil for
undergoes an extensive cleaning chain, sorted waste (RDF /Refuse heating purposes.
process in several stages, in order Derived Fuels) is transported in
to ensure that all pollutants are containers and below deck in District heating can reduce the
safely separated and that the level cargo holds, and its quality is amount of oil heating by as much
of emissions remains as low as optimal for energy production at as 50 million litres per year, and
possible. our plants. Waste from England thanks to district heating, Oslo
is used for winter fuel at EGE has now been named the most
For more information about our waste- plants in Oslo, which increases eco-friendly city in Norway.
to-energy services, contact our sales the supply of eco-friendly heat to
representative Kjell Henrik Olsen (pictured). district heating systems during During 2015, EGE will carry out a
Tel: +47 904 77 115 the cold winter months. significant upgrade of its cleaning
Email: kjell.henrik.olsen@ege.oslo.kommune.no technology, and will implement
RDF from England is a mix of measures aimed at increasing
unsorted household waste and production. The goal for 2016 is
commercial waste with good to recover energy from 460,000
heating value, and is well-suited tons of waste, including 150,000
for intermediate storage. The tons of residual waste from
current capacity for eco-friendly Europe, which would otherwise
waste processing in Europe is have ended up in landfills. This
quite limited, and large amounts upgrade will provide an energy
of household waste (about 150 production equivalent to approx.
million tons per year) end up in 1.3 TWh energy annually, and
landfills. Research has shown would satisfy the energy needs for
when waste is transported to Oslo about 95,000 households in the
and treated here, (waste which city of Oslo. l

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