Energy Savings and Revenue Generation for Misawa Homes in Finland

Since 2017, Sympower has guided Misawa Homes through seamless participation in Finland’s balancing markets, selling their flexibility on the FCR-D Up market and unlocking additional revenues for their sawmill operation.

Since 1994, Misawa Homes, a Finland-based sawmill, has supplied high-quality timber exports primarily to Japan. With a capacity of 82,000 m³, the company produces and sells kiln-dried spruce lumber.

Their most energy-intensive assets are their kiln chambers, where heat is distributed via water radiators and circulated using electric fan motors. With a combined motor capacity of around 700 kilowatts across 13 chambers, these systems offer a valuable potential for demand-side flexibility without impacting the main production process and unlock revenue opportunities through Finland’s balancing markets.

Unlocking Energy Savings Through Flexibility

One of the core challenges for European grid operators is keeping electricity grids at a maintained frequency of 50Hz to avoid power outages and grid supply interruptions. Balancing markets play a key role in regulating grid frequency.

The Nordic’s Frequency Containment Reserve for Disturbance situations (FCR-D) market is designed to automatically intervene within 30 seconds to help restore the grid's safety and security by balancing electricity supply and demand.

Companies participating in the FCR-D balancing market are financially compensated for every hour they make their energy assets — in this case, dryers — available and able to deliver, regardless of whether they are activated.

Together with Misawa Homes, Sympower identified the FCR-D Up market as the most suitable opportunity to unlock additional revenue. By analysing the sawmill’s energy consumption patterns, we helped optimise their operations to maximise availability for the market — all without impacting their core processes.

The results were impressive. Misawa Homes achieved a 15% reduction in their electricity consumption without any impact on their core lumber drying processes.

Beyond energy savings, participating in the FCR-D Up market enabled Misawa Homes to earn extra revenue without compromising their productivity. Sympower helped manage their energy assets effectively, ensuring they were available to respond to market needs around 15 times per year.

Unlocking Flexibility Without Sacrificing Productivity

Today, Sympower and Misawa Homes successfully manage around 0.7 megawatts on the FCR-D Up balancing market.

Since the beginning, Sympower has worked closely with Misawa Homes as a trusted partner, ensuring their energy assets’ flexibility is carefully managed without disrupting core operations.

“As we use lots of electrical energy for wood drying, we are always interested in new projects that could save us money,” said Pasi Lähdelahti, Misawa Homes of Finland’s Factory Manager.

 “The installation and operation of Sympower’s solutions have not affected the drying time or quality of our timber. Instead, we use less energy to get the same high-quality dried timber.”

This collaboration demonstrates that flexibility services can unlock revenue and energy savings while maintaining operational excellence. 

Misawa Homes of Finland