It’s Never Black and White Choice Between Energy Systems - Oilon, Chairwoman - Päivi Leiwo

There is never a black and white choice. So actually what is so fascinating nowadays is that we can combine different kinds of energy sources. For example, in an industrial process plant there can be a combustion system using gas, and there can be a heat pump system and solar energy panels or collectors connected to each other as a total energy system. And very often these hybrid systems are the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly way of providing energy. And what is good is that in these combinations you can choose what time of the year or what time of the day you are using which kind of energy source, based on price for example.

And also in industrial processes very often there are huge amounts of excess gases or excess liquids that can be used and recovered, and then later on produced as new energy for the process or for heating of the plant. I would say that we differ from many of our competitors in that we are able to provide our customers a whole range of products, a whole range of burners, from the smallest family house burners up to 80 megawatt power plant burners. And we are able to provide these products for a large variety of uses.

We provide the burners for district heating plants, for heating of houses, for marine boiler plants, for industrial processes, for power plants, for hazardous waste incineration plants, and for many other applications. And most of our competitors are more focused on just one product. So that's one thing, and the technology level, the reliability, and easy maintenance of the burners is also a very important competitive factor. And nowadays, as we are also providing heat pump systems for industrial processes and for heating of houses, that makes the product range even more interesting for our customers.

I think the biggest step to move from traditional combustion technology up to other technologies happened about 15 years ago in our company. For many decades we had been known as a provider of high-level combustion technology, but it seemed the world is changing, the societies are changing, and customers are becoming more and more environmentally conscious. And of course there was also the question of how long oil and gas are available for energy uses.

So we were kind of forced to think: what else does the world need, what else are we able to provide? And heat pumps were kind of the first answer for us. We started creating the heat pump range 15 years ago, from small family house heat pumps which we still provide, so we have moved to bigger scale. I would say there is no limit if you think of the capacity, how big buildings or areas you can heat or cool with heat pump systems. That is a very modern way of thinking.

Very often when the factory or the industrial process is already there, or if the building has been there for many decades, and for example if the energy has been provided by coal, it needs a lot of investments for modernization of the factories. And then it's a question of whether companies are really willing to make their calculations about how much they can save if they modernize their systems. It is rather surprising that many times, if we know the investment can be paid back in five years, sometimes in three years or even two years, still the industrial companies are not always ready to make the investment decisions. To me it doesn't make any sense.

But somehow very often the companies are kind of traditional, and because their main focus is in their other business activities, they don't necessarily pay enough attention to their energy production systems and to the ways they could save money every year or work as a company in a more environmentally friendly way.

Well, what the politicians should do? First of all, we have to accept that the whole energy field cannot be changed in a very short time. It will take some time, and these older ways of producing energy with fossil fuels will be there and have their important role for many decades. But then it is very important that production has to be made in a very energy efficient way and with low emissions. At the same time we have to look for more modern and even more environmentally friendly ways to produce energy, which means solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, and energy provided with heat pumps for example.

Well, I love to take from Finland with me the very clean nature, the beautiful nature, clean air, clean waters, and the inspiration that this nature provides everybody in Finland. Also I like to take with me the kind of modest way of behaving, the respectable way of doing business with partners. And also I would like to take with me the so-called 'sisu', the determined way to work and also trustworthy way to work. I think Finnish companies are very good partners with anybody because we keep our promises, and this makes life for other people so much easier and so much happier.

I think our customers can always trust that they won't get into trouble if they work with us. And if there are some problems, we are ready to solve them. We stand behind our words. That is the Finnish way of making business.