Significant funding from the Finnish Climate Fund to Lappeenranta: capital loan of EUR 4 million to Elstor Oy to promote emission reductions

The Finnish Climate Fund, a state-owned special-assignment company, has granted a capital loan of up to EUR 4 million to the Lappeenranta-based Elstor Oy, which produces emission-free energy. The loan will go towards promoting the deployment of the Elstor heat storage solution. The company announced the news in a joint press release with the Finnish Climate Fund on Wednesday, 19 May, 2021.

Energy storage is needed in sustainable electricity production, because it is not constant but influenced by both the consumption of electricity and the amount of wind and solar energy that can be produced.

– We have developed a solution that allows electrical energy to be stored and then discharged as heat or steam on demand, explains Kari Suninen, CEO of Elstor Oy.

– It is a new kind of thermal battery that can be used to provide zero-emission thermal energy when necessary.

Finnish Climate Fund loan to Lappeenranta for the second time

Markku Mäki-Hokkonen, Development Manager of the City of Lappeenranta, is very pleased that the city’s strategic investment in green electrification has produced concrete results. This is the second time that a loan from the Finnish Climate Fund has been granted to the Lappeenranta region.

– Earlier in the spring, the Finnish Climate Fund granted a capital loan of EUR 10 million to Solar Foods, a company that started out of research projects at the Technical Research Centre of Finland and the LUT University. Solar Foods strives to achieve significant emission reductions in food production, Mäki-Hokkonen explains.

– The loan will go towards building a new production facility in Finland.

The vision is that Finland will become the world’s most attractive and competent innovation and test environment by 2030. The green electrification growth ecosystem led by the Lappeenranta region is one of the growth leaders elected by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland. It will also receive strategic funding for product development and innovation work for 2021–2027.

Elstor is an example of the global pioneership of the Lappeenranta region in the widespread green electrification of societies and industries.

– The company’s products in Lappeenrannan Energia’s small district heating network located in the Port of Mustola replace the heat from natural gas with heat from renewable sources, explains Mäki-Hokkonen.

At the same time, heat production can economically take advantage of the possibilities of demand response.

Elstor’s products will also be useful when the production of steam in industrial processes shifts from incineration to renewable energy.

The City of Lappeenranta and the Canemure initiative have acted as a pilot partner for Elstor Oy. In this way, the city has been able to follow the company’s growth into a provider of renewable process steam.

– It is remarkable that a local innovator like Elstor has received significant funding from the Finnish Climate Fund, says Mäki-Hokkonen.

– Elstor is also a member of the Greenreality Network managed by the city. We hope they will go on to find success internationally.

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Elstor Oy develops and manufactures chargeable heat storage solutions for industrial heat and steam production. Our solution enables the cost-effective production of carbon-neutral and emission-free thermal energy.

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The Finnish Climate Fund is a state-owned special-assignment company whose operations focus on combating climate change, boosting low carbon industry, and promoting digitalisation. The Finnish Climate Fund invests in large-scale projects in which the fund’s investment is crucial to enable the project’s realisation in the first place, on a larger scale or earlier than it would with funding from elsewhere.

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The Greenreality Network is a business-oriented network of energy and environmental sector companies operating in South Karelia. It creates growth and new business opportunities for its members as well as the entire area. The network has 50 members, including energy and environmental sector companies, municipalities in the region, and research and education institutions. City of Lappeenranta serves as the co-ordinator for the network.