VESTFORBRÆNDING

VESTFORBRÆNDING

Innovative energy production facilitates a sustainable society

V E S T F O R B R Æ N D I N G

The Value of

WASTE Vestforbrænding’s responsibility as Denmark’s leading waste management company is being met by an unwavering commitment to social enrichment and engagement Writer: Matthew Staff | Project Manager: Richard Thomas

estforbrænding is uniting 19 Danish municipalities towards a common goal of energy efficiency and sustainable living as the market-leading waste management company continues to foster a harmonious “environmental circle”.

This circle begins in each household as residents are encouraged to sort their waste in the most suitable and conducive manner; is then put through the innovative and complex Vestforbrænding filter of energy production and distribution; before being pumped back into the same

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originating homes in the form of optimally efficient power.

Founded in 1970 on a non-profitcost-coverage principle, the Company has evolved according to this ideology ever since; diversifying its remit over the years to now comprise three core business areas in the form of waste management and recycling, wasteto-energy production, and energy distribution.

Having joined the business nearly four years ago, Chief Executive Officer, Peter Basland was and is still aware of the potential that Vestforbrænding has to enrich such a wide area, across and surrounding the area of Copenhagen.

“When I arrived at the largest, well-reputed waste-management and energy company in Denmark, I was pleased to get the chance to add to its ambitious and ‘think big’ ethos,” he says. “Our main objectives revolve around efficiency, curiosity and responsibility rather than solely profit. This encourages us to continue to be at the forefront of new developments and we are consistently anchoring our position as industry leaders. Furthermore, it reinforces our obligation to our owners - the 19 municipalities as well as the individual consumers of each municipality.

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ARTOGIS

W

e believe that easy access to data collection and visualisation leads to enhanced knowledge and better decisions.

This philosophy is the foundation of our work for utility companies like Vestforbrænding, providing them with best possible basis for their economic, technological and environmental decisions.

We are ARTOGIS a/s, a Danish company founded in 2001, focused on delivering technical IT solutions for utility companies.

The Company is addressing stringent areas of transparency, governance and compiance

Solutions comprise recycling centres and schemes as well as a selection of energy production and distribution options. And this flexible and dynamic capacity means Vestforbrænding is able to tailor different aspects to suit the specific needs of each community. As Denmark’s largest waste management and waste-toenergy company, it administers one million tonnes of waste and comes into contact with 25 percent of all household waste generated in the country.

“Of that waste, 62 percent is sorted for recycling, with less than one percent going to landfills, and the rest utilised for harvesting energy through incineration, from which 65 percent is allocated to our own district heating network,” Basland explains.

“Vestforbrænding is also Northern Europe’s largest supplier of wastebased district heating and supplies 64,300 homes with district heating and 168,000 consumers with electricity.”

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The environmental circle

Facilitating this level of coverage in the present day, Vestforbrænding is focusing on two core areas: addressing increasingly stringent areas of transparency, governance and compliance that come with a publicly owned company; and emphasising the Company’s unique value chain proposition.

However, if you rewind the clock to the 70s, the outlook was a whole lot different, as Basland states: “Generally waste was viewed as a problem rather than an inherently valuable resource, and our approach now is much more enlightened.

“We have become increasingly focused on creating solutions that reflect our commitment to the environment by returning recycled material to the product circuit and effectively recovering green energy from the residual waste.”

As such, recycling is the order of the day, and it begins at home, with users

Having used the first nearly 15 years of our Company’s life to visualise data primarily by using geographic information systems (GIS), we have for the past two-and-a-half years been expanding our software platform to include generic data collection from IoT (Internet of Things) devices (data robot factory), large-scale data storage (big data pools), data portals and business intelligence/analytics facilities.

Building on globally leading open source software technologies like QGIS and Geoserver for GIS purposes, PostgreSQL and MongoDB for data storage, CKAN for data portals and Sigfox for data communications, we strive to connect and integrate these elements into our own software platform: sago•fonto®.

Our mindset is based on the concepts of free and open source software, and on a vision to become a ‘global open source innovator - for the benefit of the world’s water and climate’.

The pillars of our Company are the 17 goals for sustainable development put forward by the United Nations. Here we are primarily focusing on goal number six (Clean Water and Sanitation) and number 13 (Climate Action); aiming to support these in the best possible way with our software platform to create maximum value for our customers.

T +45 75 53 73 93

www.artogis.dk

Global open source innovator …

for the benefit of the world’s water and climate!

A free it platform based on globally widespread open source technologies, that provides it-solutions within four technology areas….

Big Data Management

Geographic Information

• Network registration • Customer service • Asset Management • Maintenance

Internet-of-Things In a strong strategic partnership with

• Cost friendly • Long battery lifetime • Excellent coverage • Ideal for utilities and their extensive geography

Open Data Portals

Based on the world’s leading open source data portal

• Publish and find datasets • Store and manage data • Engage with customers • Customize and extend

Supporting our customers’ hard work to contribute to the United Nations 17 SDGs

T: +45 75 53 73 93 | www.artogis.dk

V E S T F O R B R Æ N D I N G

provided waste collection systems that allow them to source separate household waste into different recyclable categories; paving the way for the Company’s more technical solutions to operate at an optimum level.

“Vestforbrænding’s evolution as a waste management and energy production company has very much been guided by our desire to elevate our environmental consideration in all aspects of our endeavours,” Basland continues. “We challenge ourselves regularly by asking how we can improve each step of the process in our value chain to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.

“In our nearly 50 years of existence, we have accomplished a range of goals that secure a circular business model and thus a harmonious balance with our surroundings.”

This circular approach alludes to perhaps the Company’s greatest

Vestforbrænding has exceptional technical expertise

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strength - its structure. Basland emphasises the strong levels of technical capability throughout every strand of the process, but it is Vestforbrænding’s organisation and set-up which lends so perfectly to a cross-municipality influence.

He elaborates: “We’re integrated into the 19 municipalities. Our success is securing the valuable resources and making sure they’re recycled, but by engaging citizens in the process. They understand the importance of sorting their waste in the right ways. So each individual household is where the story begins.

“Then we have a professional approach to putting the resources back into the environmental circle.

What doesn’t get recycled, goes back to our energy facility in the middle of this huge area that we cover. And we then distribute waste energy back to the same kitchen where the waste started its journey.”

INSATECH A/S Work smart Insatech A/S delivers quality products, solutions and services within the field of instrumentation and automation. As a professional partner we strive to create both economic value and growth for your company. This is done by forging close relationships and learning about your core business, which enables us to assist you with everything from optimisation of daily tasks and new projects to comprehensive tailor-made solutions.

These are some of the reasons why Insatech A/S has been a close partner to I/S Vestforbrænding for the past 30 years.

T +45 5537 2095 E mail@insatech.com

www.insatech.com

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Insatech offers a wide range of instruments, sensors and transmitters for: • • • • • • • • •

Analysis Flow Level Displacement Temperature Pressure and differential pressure UV water treatment Calibration equipment Control, safety, and shut off valves as well as desuperheaters • Systems for operation, regulation and data collection

We can help you before, during and after your purchase with everything from counselling, installation and start-up to service and calibration.

Contact

www.insatech.com

Meeting demand all year round

Delving more intricately into Vestforbrænding’s technical expertise, the ability to not just react to trends, but keep ahead of them, has been a critical factor in the Company’s success over the decades. Recently such trends have included improved collection and management techniques en route to the recycling stage; again initiated not directly, but by encouraging each user to assist with the process and learn about its importance themselves.

“Then, in our own facilities, the implementation of our new robotautomated sorting system makes the sorting of bulky household waste even more efficient,” Basland picks up.

“This system enables us to fine-comb bulky waste, ensuring that all materials suitable for recycling are done so before being sent for incineration.

“A further project that stands out includes a continuous focus on ‘bottom ash’ which are the remnants of the incineration process. By sorting

us at

+45 5537 2095 mail@ins atech.co m

“...the implementation of our new robotautomated sorting system makes the sorting of bulky household waste even more efficient”

recyclable metals and upgrading the residual material for use in construction of new roads, they are put to good use.”

Additionally, the Company is addressing how it handles ‘fly-ash’, the filtered by-product of the flue gas cleaning systems; once again ensuring that the amount of waste for landfills is kept to a minimum.

“The final trend or challenge we have to mitigate then comes from the difference in demography across our different areas of operation,” Basland adds. “Some live in flats in built-up areas, while others live in villas in more dilute municipalities, and we have to effectively serve each.

“This is where our flexibility and our diverse solutions come into play.

While automation plays a part, so too does the expansion of our district heating network, where we are looking into the potential of district cooling in collaboration with industrial partners.”

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Harnessing geothermal energy is also a potential for the future - hot water that can be pulled out of the ground and used as a renewable energy source. This is a trend which also alleviates one of the country’s biggest, and most unavoidable, challenges from an energy perspective.

“There is a massive difference between winter and summer here,” Basland reveals. “To balance production and meet demand all year round, we’re looking into storage of energy during the summer months where demand is not as high, and then meeting demands in the winter where it is.

“To combat this, we plan on investing in groundwater storage so that we can still produce lots in the summer, but then store it until the winter where demand is at its highest.”

A world-class process

Local ingratiation has been achieved both inside and outside of Vestforbrænding’s confines; evident initially across the Company’s valued and knowledgeable workforce, and equally across all aforementioned residents of the Company’s 19 municipalities.

For the latter, an educational centre authentically located in the heart of Vestforbrænding has been set up to foster the next generation of resource and energy-conscientious citizens; inviting children of all ages into this dynamic and interactive learning environment giving them the opportunity to learn the importance of recycling and - as they get older - the more sophisticated processes that drive sustainable society.

“More than 22,000 students came to our facility last year and it’s a great way of engaging future consumers who will hopefully support us as their favourite waste management and energy provider,” Basland states.

“Our established presence in the field of waste management relates not

Ultimately the Company will ensure it remains forward thinking and unique

demonstrating the unique features of Vestforbrænding’s value chain that contributes to a sustainable society,” Basland concludes. “In the just to our solid financial position, future we would like to strengthen but to this dedication to investing this value chain further through in the future, and our rich history strategic investments across the three as an environmentally considerate segments. Our waste management company.” operations will remain well ahead of Vestforbrænding is proud to be part EU targets, driven by new approaches of such a fundamentally important including bio treatment of food waste; industry and is privileged to be geothermal processes will bring a new influencing the industry, and society dynamic to our energy production; and for the better. Across each strand of with energy distribution, our district the Company’s unique value chain heating and district cooling networks, from waste collection to recycling, compounded by our groundwater energy production and distribution storage solution, will innovate the - the end goal of returning a highly process even further. valuable resource to the originating “Ultimately, this will all ensure dwellings continues to be realised. that we remain unique and forward“It all goes back to us being an thinking, all the while engaging citizens integral part of the municipalities we so they can understand and help drive cater, embracing the municipalities and these efforts.”

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VestforbrĂŚnding Ejby Mosevej 219 2600 Glostrup Denmar Tel: +45 44 85 70 00 vestfor@vestfor.dk

www.vestfor.dk

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