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Customer case

Helen decreased carbon footprint in Vuosaari power plant by using SSAB’s higher strength steel tubes

November 14, 2021 6 min read

higher strength steel in district heating pipeline core tubes

Case details

Product Spirally welded pipes Steel piles and pressure pipes – quality that lasts
Country Finland
Company LOGSTOR Finland
Industry Energy power plants

LOGSTOR Finland delivered to Helen Vuosaari power plant district heating pipe line that were produced with thinner steel core pipelines made of higher strength steel. This was the first large size project for Helen to use higher strength steel in district heating pipeline. Higher steel grade enables customer to use lower material thickness tubes in steel core of pipelines which not only reduce weight of the pipes during the transportation but also prolongs lifetime of the pipelines. Power plant is benefiting of the longer lifetime compared with traditional solution and at the same time environment aspect with lower carbon footprint are enabled.

Case details

Product Spirally welded pipes Steel piles and pressure pipes – quality that lasts
Country Finland
Company LOGSTOR Finland
Industry Energy power plants

In addition to stronger and thinner tubes for the pipelines, LOGSTOR Finland also took advantage of the flexibility of SSAB's tube products in both deliveries and lengths, in the Helen Vuosaari power plant project. Flexibility in pickups from Oulainen tube mill allowed LOGSTOR to minimize storage of steel tubes at its facility. With the lengths required for the project, LOGSTOR was able to shorten processing time and minimize the scrap.

The very good insulation properties on the pre-insulated pipes from LOGSTOR will result in minimal heat loss from the pipe system and thereby have an important contribution to the sustainability around this project.
Pipeline production in Logstor in Saarijärvi

Pipeline production in LOGSTOR in Saarijärvi (photo courtesy LOGSTOR Finland)

Usage of biomass is the fastest way to reduce coal use in heating plants. Helen in Helsinki is preparing to phase out usage of coal. Helen is to build a new bioenergy heating plant in the Vuosaari power plant area in Helsinki. New plant will be located next to existing natural gas power. The output of the bioenergy heating plant is about 260 MW and it will not produce electricity. The aim is to start production at the Vuosaari heating plant during the heating season 2022–2023.

Helen Vuosaari bioenergy heating plant will use wood chips as main fuel. Wood chips to be used in the heating plans is a by-product of forestry and cannot be utilized any other ways. The waste heat from the flue gases of the bioenergy heating plant is recovered twice. The flue gases generated during combustion are first led to a heat recovery plant and from there to separate heat pumps. This allows Helen to use the fuel as efficiently as possible and at the same time the flue gas temperature drops 10 to 20 degrees when it reaches the smoke.

The construction of the Vuosaari bioenergy heating plant started in 2020 with earthmoving works, and the actual construction phase begun in autumn 2020. District heating pipelines in a rock tunnels between Vuosaari and Hanasaari are nearly ready, total length of pipelines are 20 km and used steel pipe size is DN1000. The supplier of pre-insulated pipes to Helen Vuosaari power plant is LOGSTOR Finland Oy located in Saarijärvi. LOGSTOR Finland used 5000 tons of steel tubes in this project. The tubes were produced in SSAB Oulainen Works in Finland and picked up on demand to production site in Saarijärvi. Project was a great example how clever design can benefit both environment and customer.

More information of the Helen Vuosaari bioenery heating plant can be found from https://www.helen.fi/en/company/energy/development-projects/biolampolaitokset/vuosaaren-biolämpölaitos

Ready pipes on the way from Saarijärvi to Helsinki

Ready pipes on the way from Saarijärvi to Helsinki (photo courtesy LOGSTOR Finland)
SSAB Oulainen tube mill

SSAB Oulainen tube mill and spirally welded tubes.

SSAB Oulainen tube mill in Finland is producing spirally welded steel tubes. Steel coils Oulainen is using are produced in Raahe steel mill. Most of the products Oulainen produces are produced to a certain project. The Oulainen tube mill also produces large diameter steel piles for foundation construction. Oulainen tube mill produces tubes that are a reliable solution for the transfer of various substances, heat and energy in both cold and hot conditions.