Report on Study Visit Workshop - EnvSec

List of participants
Study Visit Workshop on Energy Security and Sustainability,
Sweden, 12-18 February 2012
1. Alexander Mikhalevich Head of the delegation, chief researcher and scientific director of the
Institute of Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
(Minsk, Belarus)
2. Siarhei Nikitsin Senior researcher at the Institute of Energy of the National Academy of
Sciences of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus)
3. Dzianis Rymko Head of the laboratory “Energy Security” at the Institute of Energy of
the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus)
4. Andrei Pilipchuk Head of the Department on the Regulation of Impacts on Air Quality and
Ozone Layer at the Ministry of Environment of Belarus (Minsk, Belarus)
List of project coordinators
1. Aleh Cherp PhD, Associate professor at the International Institute for Industrial
Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University (LU), coordinator of
MESPOM Consortium (Lund)
2. Yuliya Voytenko PhD, Researcher and consultant on renewable energy and sustainability
(Lund)
3. Alesia Israilava MSc, Project manager at Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) (Stockholm)
List of presenters and guides
1. Mikael Backman Senior research fellow, director of Swedish-Polish Sustainable Energy
Platform at IIIEE, Lund University (LU) (Lund)
2. Vera Chudnikova Coordinator of Swedish-Polish Sustainable Energy Platform, IIIEE at LU
(Lund)
3. Siarhei Darozhka Head of the Department of Environmental Management, the Institute of
Lifelong Education at Belarusian State University, MESPOM Scholar
(Minsk, Belarus)
4. Erika Nilsson Environmental coordinator at Alfa Laval (Lund)
5. Magnus Edin Market Manager Heating, Comfort/HVAC at Alfa Laval (Lund)
6. Sven-Olle Wallin Manager at straw-fired district heating plant (Skurup)
7. Gert Persson Manager at wood-fired district heating plant (Hörby)
8. Carl-Henrik Ljung Manager at Pugerup estate (Pugerup)
9. Mattias Gustavsson Consultant and software developer at NSR biogas plant (Helsingborg)
10. Rustan Nilsson Communicator at Sysav waste processing plant (Malmö)
11. Helen Holm Senior programme manager/policy advisor at the Department for
Reform and Selective Cooperation, Swedish International Development
Agency (SIDA) (Stockholm)
12. Barbara Hessel Programme coordinator at the International Projects Section at Swedish
Environmental Protection Agency (Stockholm)
13. Elena Varasteh International Secretariat at Swedish Energy Agency (Stockholm)

Study Visit Workshop on Energy Security and Sustainability. Sweden, 12-18 February 2012
Programme
12 February 2012
14:25 / 16:10 Arrival at the airport in Copenhagen. Transfer to Lund. Checking in at Duxiana Hotel.
13 February 2012
09:00-11:30 Study visit to the International Institute of Industrial Environmental Economics
(IIIEE). Meeting IIIEE researchers.
11:30-11:50 Money exchange (optional)
12:00-13:00 Lunch at the restaurant Kulturkrogen, Lund
13:30-15:30 Study visit to Lunds Energi combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Lund
16:00-17:30 Study visit to Alfa Laval, Lund
18:30-21:00 Joint dinner at the restaurant Carlssons Trädgård, Lund
14 February 2012
09:00 Departure from the hotel by car
10:00-11:00 Study visit to the district heating plant in Skurup that uses straw and wood pellets for
energy production
12:00-13:00 Lunch at the restaurant Myntha in Lund. Departure from the IIIEE at 13:05
14:00-15:00 Study visit to Hörby district heating plant that uses wood chips for energy production
15:30-16:30 Study visit to Pugerup estate with attendance of a straw-fired boiler that produces
heat for the estate and of wind mills for electricity production
17:00-18:00 Study visit to the castle and estate in Bosjökloster. Trip around Bosjökloster.
Examples of energy saving measures in rural houses
18:00 Return to Lund by train
15 February 2012
10:00-11:30 Study visit to NSR biogas plant in Helsingborg
12:30 Lunch in Lund or Malmö
14:00-15:30 Study visit to SYSAV waste processing plant in Malmö
From 15:30 Free time in Malmö
16 February 2012
11:05 Arrival in Stockholm. Transfer to the city. Check in at Connect Hotel City
12:30 Lunch at the restaurant Big Beef
15:00 Study visit to Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
17 February 2012
10:30-12:00 Study visit to Swedish Energy Agency
12:30-13:30 Lunch at the restaurant Rosen
From 13:30 Free time in Stockholm
18 February 2012
7:00 Departure to the airport in Stockholm and return to Minsk
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Study Visit Workshop on Energy Security and Sustainability. Sweden, 12-18 February 2012
Day 1: Monday, 13 February 2012
Part 1: Scania (Southern Sweden)
Venue: International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University (LU) and Alfa
Laval company, Lund, Sweden
Day 1 started with welcoming of the participants at the IIIEE by Aleh Cherp and Yuliya Voytenko followed by a
roundtable with Mikael Backman, Vera Chudnikova and Siarhei Darozhka. The morning session included brief
personal presentations by the workshop participants, coordinators and IIIEE representatives of their
professional background, experience and interests. The discussions touched upon the comparison of Swedish
and Belarusian contexts (e.g. development trends, policy environment, private and public initiatives, case
study examples) in the area of sustainable energy production for heating, electricity and transportation.
Mikael Backman and Vera Chudnikova presented Swedish-Polish Sustainable Energy Platform, which is created
at the IIIEE on the cooperation with the Division for Fuels and Renewable Energy at the Automotive Industry
Institute (PIMOT), the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Stockholm and the Embassy of the Kingdom of
Sweden in Warsaw. Its purpose is to promote and disseminate technology and knowledge on sustainable
energy technologies (i.e. renewable energy and energy efficiency), facilitate compliance with the EU climate
and energy package as well as to link Polish and Swedish sustainable energy activities and business partners.
A study visit to Lund Energy was cancelled the same day by Martin Gierow, a manager at Lund Energy
responsible for the study visit, due to Mr. Gierow’s health condition. Thus it was substituted with an afternoon
session, where Yuliya Voytenko delivered the following presentations to the workshop participants:
1) Transport and Climate in Lund, Sweden (original presentation by Anders Söderberg, Mobility
Management Coordinator at the City of Lund);
2) Cycle Planning in Malmö (original presentation and photos by Olle Evenäs, Traffic Planner at Streets
and Parks Department at the City of Malmö)
3) Lunds Energi Koncernen. Kraftringen Produktion (original presentation by Martin Gierow, Manager at
Lund Energy company)
The presentations followed with a discussion by the workshop participants and coordinators.
Day 1 finished with a study visit to the company of Alfa Laval in Lund. The study visit started with the
presentation of the company and its products by Erika Nilsson as well as the energy efficiency programme that
Alfa Laval has introduced in their activities. Magnus Edin complemented the presentation with Alfa Laval
business description in Eastern Europe (e.g. provided an example of the project on the modernisation of
central district heating system in Odessa (Ukraine), which was carried out by Alfa Laval). Later the participants
of the workshop were guided to Alfa Laval plant, where they could see the production processes of heat
exchanger plates and assembly lines for the heat exchangers, and ask further questions from Erika Nilsson.
Day 2: Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Venue: Skurup, Hörby, Pugerup and Bosjökloster, Sweden
Day 2 started with a study visit to Skurups Fjärrvärme AB - a 5 MW straw-fired district heating (DH) plant in the
village of Skurup, Scania. The plant is owned by the Swedish group of agricultural producers Lantmännen AB.
It supplies DH and hot water to the majority of houses in the village. The plant has also two reserve oil boilers –
3 and 8 MW – and a newly constructed wood pellet boiler of 3 MW that was put in operation in November 2010.
DH plant in Skurup was constructed as a result of the municipality interest to utilise abundant amount of straw
in the region and produce energy locally and in a more sustainable way.
Day 2 continued with a study tour to the village of Hörby, where the company Rindi Energi AB has installed a
6 MW DH plant and supplies heat and hot water to private, municipal and industrial users in the village. The
boiler uses wood chips in its operation, which are supplied to the plant from the forestry companies in a close
proximity. The plant has two reserve oil-fired boilers – 8 and 3 MW – which are used when the heat demand is
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Study Visit Workshop on Energy Security and Sustainability. Sweden, 12-18 February 2012
especially high in cold seasons of the year. Rindi Energi AB is a private company that is operating 11 small scale
DH systems, which are similar to the one in Hörby, in other regions of Sweden.
The next study visit was carried out to the farm estate Pugerup. Its size is around 1500 ha, 1100 ha of which are
used for growing crops. Significant areas are also covered with forest. The farm has its own straw-fired boiler
of 600 kW from 2003, which utilises the farm’s own straw resources and is used for its heating needs (e. g., to
run a grain dryer, to warm up houses, administrative buildings and pig breeding facilities). Straw is ignited with
natural gas and is the main fuel for the boiler. However, sometimes wood chips and other combustible
substances are added to the boiler. Pugerup estate also owns several wind turbines, and sells the electricity to
the Nordic Electricity Grid (Nord Pool). The workshop participants attended the straw-fired boiler, the grain
dryer and one of the wind turbines.
Day 2 closed with a study visit to Bosjökloster estate. Workshop participants were demonstrated energy
efficiency measures in a rural house (i.e. a heat pump that uses the heat from a nearby lake to heat the house
and smart energy meters) as well as had a guided tour around the castle and the territory of Bosjökloster
estate.
Day 3: Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Venue: Helsingborg and Malmö, Sweden
Day 3 started with a study visit to NSR biogas plant in the city of Helsingborg. The plant began its operation in
1996, is 52% municipally owned, and produces about 4 million m 3 of biogas per year. The raw material for the
biogas consists of by-products from the food industry, liquid manure and sorted household waste. The
fermentation process results in raw gas, consisting of methane and carbon dioxide, which is then upgraded to
vehicle fuel in two upgrading units that remove the carbon dioxide. The upgraded gas consists by 97-98% of
methane. The biogas is used for the transportation (both public and private) as well as for the combined heat
and power production in Helsingborg. The remains from the digestion process are used as a certified biological
fertiliser and distributed to the nearby farms through a pipeline.
Day 3 continued with a study visit to SYSAV waste processing plant in Malmö, which produces energy from the
waste of households, industries and recycling stations as well as sells the recycled waste to industries and
recycled organic waste to the agricultural enterprises. Today about 90% of all waste that is delivered to SYSAV
is recycled either in the form of energy or materials while 10% is landfilled on the territory of the plant. The
plant’s target is to perform 100% waste recycling. The burning takes place at 1000ºC. The cleaning of flue
gases involves several stages. First, the dust is eliminated in an electric filter. Then the flue gases are cleaned
using water in three different cleaning processes, and are later cleaned in a wet electric filter. A catalyst is used
in the final step of the flue gas treatment prior to emitting the smoke through a 100 m high stack. The wasteto-energy
plant produces about 250 GWh of electricity and 1400 GWh of heat annually. SYSAV plant currently
delivers over 60% of the district heating to Malmö and Burlöv municipalities.
Day 4: Thursday, 16 February 2012
Venue: Stockholm, Sweden
Part 2: Stockholm
On the morning of Day 4 workshop participants were transferred to Stockholm accompanied by Yuliya
Voytenko. In the afternoon of Day 4 they attended Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(SIDA). First a presentation was delivered by Helen Holm, who is responsible for the environment related
cooperation in Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Her presentation was complemented by a presentation
from Barbara Hessel, who is coordinating Belarusian programme at Swedish Environment Protection Agency
(EPA), which is funded by SIDA. In particular, Barbara Hessel informed the workshop participants about five
waste management projects that are carried out by Swedish EPA in Belarus at the moment. The presentations
ended up with the discussion between workshop participants and presenters about potential cooperation and
funding opportunities.
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Study Visit Workshop on Energy Security and Sustainability. Sweden, 12-18 February 2012
Day 5: Friday, 17 February 2012
Venue: Stockholm, Sweden
On Day 5 the workshop participants attended Swedish Energy Agency (SEA), where Elena Varasteh delivered a
presentation on Sustainable Energy System and Energy Efficiency in Sweden. In her presentation Elena Varasteh
introduced the responsibilities, functions and the role of SEA (e.g., in electricity certificates, emission trading
schemes, knowledge support for industrial enterprises, national energy statistics etc.), existing mechanisms to
support renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures in Sweden and case studies on sustainable
housing in Sweden. The discussion followed the presentation. The representative of the Ministry of the
Environment of Belarus left a list of his questions on policy mechanisms and their development to Elena
Varasteh, while she promised to look into the opportunities to organise a follow up seminar with the
involvement of relevant experts, if the workshop participants come with another visit to Sweden. Elena
Varasteh has recommended to contact Belarusian representative at the European Commission as well as to
explore the activities of Energikontoret Skåne (a Scanian Unit within the Association of Swedish Regional
Energy Offices - www.fsek.se), which may be considering the development of relations with Belarus in the
energy sector.
Major Outcomes and Feedback by the Participants
1. Swedish-Polish Sustainable Energy Platform at IIIEE could be used as an inspiring example to create a
similar technology and knowledge exchange platform between Sweden and Belarus or Sweden and
transition economies in Eastern Europe.
2. Alexander Mikhalevich has suggested to SIDA and SEA a possibility to financially support the
continuation of the International Expert Seminar on Renewable Energy for Eastern Europe in 2013.
Such first seminar was held in 2011 in Minsk with the support from UNESCO and IRENA.
3. The Institute of Energy in Belarus and Yuliya Voytenko have agreed about potential cooperation in the
future calls for research/collaborative proposals for funding on sustainable energy related topics
between Sweden and Eastern Europe.
4. An advise from SEA representative Elena Varasteh was to explore the activities of Energikontoret
Skåne (Scanian Unit within the Association of Swedish Regional Energy Offices - www.fsek.se), which
might be considering the development of relations with Belarus in the energy sector.
5. One of the major conclusions drawn by the participants was the identification of one main difference in
the emergence of sustainable energy practices in Sweden and Belarus. While in Belarus the approach is
essentially top down, and the government is expected by other stakeholders to impose ‘carrots’ and
‘sticks’ to encourage the development and proliferation of sustainable energy systems, in Sweden
many initiatives emerge at the bottom level (e.g. community or private), and are in many cases only
generally guided by the state policies.
6. One of the further wishes by the participants from the Institute of Energy is to organize a follow up
seminar that will involve the exploration of how sustainable development concept is
measured/understood in Sweden in reality (e.g. what is perceived as ‘a sustainable district’, ‘a
sustainable region’ or ‘a sustainable energy system’ by municipalities, businesses and other actors).
7. One of the further wishes by the representative of the Ministry of Environment of Belarus is to organise
a short course of lectures by Swedish energy experts (e.g. representatives of academia, policy makers
at different levels, business actors etc.), who can explain the nature of energy policy making process
(e.g. how the policy instruments supporting sustainable energy are developed, implemented and
enforced). A preliminary support of such activity was demonstrated by Elena Varasteh from SEA.
8. The overall level of satisfaction by the workshop by its participants and the organizational skills of the
workshop coordinators can be recorded as very high.
This Study Visit Workshop was supported by the Environment and Security (ENVSEC) Initiative
(http://www.envsec.org).
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