As Finland’s energy system accelerates its transition, the infrastructure that keeps our buildings warm is evolving just as quickly. In 2023, total district-heat supply reached 36,700 GWh. Of that, nearly one-fifth was delivered by heat recovery, large-scale heat pumps, and electric boilers, a segment that has more than doubled in just five years.
Yet many heat supply networks still treat these units purely as “heat makers”. In practice, both heat pumps and e-boilers can ramp their electrical load up or down within seconds, opening the door to paid flexibility services in demand response programs. In Finland, the available programs are FCR-D (Frequency Containment Reserve for Disturbances) and mFRR (manual Frequency Restoration Reserve). Another type of district heating equipment, Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units, can also join the flexibility game, but their slower ramp rates generally limit their use to the mFRR market.
Here’s how Finnish district-heating companies can turn that controllability into a dependable new revenue stream.
Demand response is a change in electricity consumption by consumers, such as commercial and industrial businesses, to help keep the supply and demand of electricity in balance and prevent power outages. This flexibility can be monetised in balancing and energy markets by flexibility services providers like Sympower.
Demand response programmes are particularly attractive for industries and businesses using a lot of electricity in their daily operations. The vast majority of electrical processes can be optimised, shifted in time, or turned off/on without impacting core operations or final output.
Heat pumps and e-boilers are two types of equipment that meet all the requirements for participating in balancing markets, thanks to their reactivity and flexibility. It is then up to the district heating company and the flexibility services provider to work together to analyse how to maximise revenue from demand response, taking into account three core factors:
This close collaboration between the district heating company and the flexibility services provider ensures that the former remains in control of its processes at all times and that core business operations remain unaffected.
Industrial heat pumps (typically 5 to 40 MW) use variable-speed compressors: by tweaking the inverter set-point, electrical input can be raised or lowered with sub-second response while still delivering 70–95 °C flow to the network.
This characteristic makes them an ideal asset for demand response services, as short-term curtailments won’t affect supply temperature, thanks to system inertia and hot water storage.
Both resistance and electrode boilers (10–60 MW) can deliver sub-second response and run at varying percentages of their full load, making them ideal for balancing markets requiring a fast response, such as FCR-D.
Thanks to the insulation of the water tank, e-boilers can retain heat for some time, even if they are being turned off for grid balancing purposes. The stored heat can still be used for core business operations, resulting in zero impact on heat supply.
Following the activation, a controlled rebound reheats the vessel as needed. Companies using thermal tanks can even mitigate this rebound effect, as these industrial tanks are often used to syphon off the water of the e-boiler, retaining the heat more efficiently.
|
Benefit |
Heat Pump |
Electric Boiler |
|
Balancing revenue |
90-130 k€/MW·yr* |
90-130 k€/MW·yr* |
|
CO₂ reduction |
0.1–0.2 t/MWh vs. gas |
Zero onsite emissions |
|
Pay-back |
5–7 y incl. flexibility income |
3–5 y when replacing ageing oil/gas boilers |
* Indicative 2024 Finnish averages per 1 MW of flexibility; actual returns depend on asset size, bidding strategy and market prices.
Stacking FCR-D capacity payments with energy-only services lets you recover CAPEX faster, trim OPEX and strengthen ESG performance — all under your existing district-heating tariff model.
Let's explore what those numbers look like for your heat pump and e-boiler portfolio!