Westenergy was founded by five municipal waste companies to provide waste management services to over 400,000 people across 50 municipalities in Finland. The company operates an incineration plant that burns around 20,000 kg of waste per hour and runs for 8,000 hours per year. Vacon drives are used throughout the plant, especially for pumps and fans, to efficiently and sustainably extract energy from non-recyclable waste. This reduces emissions and reliance on fossil fuels while generating 80 GWh of electricity and 260 GWh of district heating annually. Westenergy appreciates Vacon's high-quality, reliable drives and the local supplier support.

1. Vacon case study Westenergy
www.vacon.com1
extracting energy
from waste
Client name: Westenergy
Segment: Energy
Products used: VACON®
NXC & VACON®
NXS
Location: Mustasaari, Finland
Photo courtesy of Westenergy

2. Vacon case study Westenergy
www.vacon.com2
Key facts of client:
• Westenergy was founded by 5 municipal waste companies
which merged to supply waste management services to more
than 400,000 people in 50 municipalities
• Plant incinerates about 20,000 kg of waste per hour
• Operates 8,000 hours per year

3. Vacon case study Westenergy
www.vacon.com3
Challenge:
• To extract energy from non-recyclable waste in an efficient,
safe and clean manner
• Extracting energy from waste reduces methane emissions
from landfill sites and oil/coal consumption
• Emissions from waste-to-energy plant are a fraction of
emissions from conventional power plant

4. Vacon case study Westenergy
www.vacon.com4
Solution:
• VACON®
drives assigned to sub-processes
in plant, mainly in pump and fan applications
• One example is district heating – VACON®
AC drives allow pump/fan to reduce rotation
speed by 50%. This cuts energy
consumption, reduces strain on equipment
and doubles length of lifecycle.
• Plant produces 80 GWh of electricity
annually, meeting needs of approx. 7,000
households. Supplies 260 GWh of district
heating – 1/3 of heating required for
City of Vaasa.

5. Vacon case study Westenergy
www.vacon.com5
Testimonial:
“We appreciate high-quality and reliable products, and these
features characterize VACON®
AC drives. Our experiences have
been very positive. A major benefit for us is that Vacon is a local
supplier. During a two-day training at Vacon, we learned more
about the operation, service and maintenance of the drives.”
Kai Alavillamo
Electrical and Automation Maintenance Manager
Westenergy
For full story:
Story first published 8th April 2013
http://www.vacon.com/Vacon/media/References/Extracting-energy-from-waste-/