The whole of Habo now heated from Jönköping

Discussions on linking the district heating network between Habo and Jönköping started as early as 2015. Jönköping Energi had a surplus of district heating production at its CHP station in Torsvik, whilst Habo Energi had ageing boilers. The solution was the building of a five kilometre pipe, which was commissioned in early November this year.

Boilers eliminated
"We now get all our hot water from Jönköping Energi and we no longer have boilers in Habo, which is unconventional. We invested more money instead in having a reliable pump station," says Patric Jönnervik, Head of Energy at Habo Energi.

He emphasises that there are many advantages to the current setup.

"Because the CHP station uses several different types of fuel, we are less sensitive to price increases compared to having our own boilers, which could only use biofuels. Delivery of the actual project was also less technically complicated, as it only consisted of a pump station," says Jönnervik.

Another advantage is that the CHP station can produce more electricity when demand for district heating rises.

Jönköping Energi acted as project manager for the construction, with Habo Energi and Habo Municipality also taking part. FVB was responsible for designing the pipe and pump station, which turned out to involve a number of challenges.

"We took part in the discussions and planning from the start, including a feasibility study to find the best possible route. During the process, we received a message a bit late telling us that a water pipe was also needed," explains Leif Norberg at FVB.

The result was district heating pipes with DN 250 (with an outer mantle of 450) and water pipes of 355 mm. What made it even more difficult was there were several points along the way where space was restricted by bridges and rivers.

"Having to also lay a water pipe was a challenge, as there wasn't much room. We made it in the end, but it was tough. An important contribution to success was the excellent collaboration we had with the construction project manager," says Norberg.

Another difficulty along the route was having to pass under road number 195, which involved the use of directional drilling.

Challenging stretch
"Designing and planning pipelines on open ground is relatively simple, but when you meet multiple challenges, as we did along this stretch, it requires experience and innovative ideas, which is FVB's strength. Experience is priceless when there are difficult geographic circumstances. At FVB we have specialists within such areas, which is a big help with jobs such as this one," concludes Norberg.

There were several narrow passages for the district heating and water pipes between Habo and Jönköping, including over the Domneån river.

Operations Engineer Tobias Uddemar opens the ground valve as part of the conversion process.