Page 6 - Stockholm-Exergi-2021-in-brief

CEO COMMENT
Continued growth in the value of
district heating in a volatile market
We leave behind us a challenging year during which
the pandemic continued to impact society as a whole
and our operations – directly and indirectly. We
worked hard to maintain our societally-critical de-
liveries and in the autumn, we initiated a safe return
to our workplaces. But developments at the end of
2021 and the beginning of 2022 clearly showed that
the pandemic was not over, and we reintroduced
some precautionary measures. On February 9, 2022,
most of the Covid-19 restrictions on society were
withdrawn and we continue to follow the develop-
ment closely.
It was also a year marked by increased
geopolitical instability, which also created
imbalances in energy markets. Prices of
input goods and electricity have been
extremely volatile at the same time
as emissions rights prices reached
new highs. However, our flexible
production system demonstrated its
capacity to adjust to rapid changes,
even though we did not reach our full
potential due to availability disruptions
in some facilities.
Despite these challenges,
our customer deliv-
eries in 2021 were
close to 100 per cent
and district heating
customers were not
affected by exceptio-
nally high electricity to carve out the solutions required to meet society’s
prices at the end of
the year. Growing
interest in our energy
services and steadily Throughout the year, we also took important steps
increasing customer
satisfaction numbers
encourage us to be-
come the first-choice continued, and in the autumn, we received vital
energy partner for
Stockholmers.
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Stockholm Exergi reported stable financial results
for 2021 compared with the previous year, and we
achieved our climate goals. Our ambitious targets for
environmental disturbances and working environme-
nt could not be fully met during the year, but our pre-
ventive work continues to be a key focus in this area.
It was also a year that once again highlighted the
importance of cogeneration in the electricity grid.
When electricity demand peaks in Stockholm, it is
necessary to bring online cogeneration capacity.
In addition, we have district heating, which also
continually reduces pressure on the grid by allowing
electricity to be used for purposes other than heating.
District heating with cogeneration creates great
benefits for the electricity grid and contributes to the
electrification of industry and the transport sector
that is necessary to meet society’s climate goals.
To support the key role of district heating for elec-
trification, it is necessary that the Nordic electricity
market evolves so that the controllable electricity
utility value of cogeneration is given its proper value.
Political initiatives and reforms are also needed for
how society manages residual waste. Stockholm
Exergi manages residual waste, removes environme-
ntally hazardous substances from the material cycle
and at the same time recycles energy – the benefit
to society is two-fold. But carbon dioxide emissions
from waste treatment must be reduced through a
series of measures that extend from the producer level
to us, which ultimately addresses residual waste.
I look forward to working with other societal actors
goals in terms of resource management and reducing
environmental impact.
towards creating other benefits for society. Our
project to build a large-scale BECCS facility
– to capture and store biogenic carbon dioxide –
recognition and support in its continued development.
The EU Innovation Fund selected us as one of
seven European projects that together will share