Fiskomlöpet vid Nykvarnsholmen i Linköping

Sustainable innovations

Building the world’s most resource-efficient region

In a world with limited resources and accelerating climate change, Tekniska verken is taking greater responsibility. Our vision is clear: to build the most resource-efficient region in the world.

We focus on circularity, ensuring that as many resources as possible stay in use and as little as possible goes to waste. Sometimes we refine or recreate resources. Other times, we act as a link – helping actors share and use each other’s resources more efficiently.

At the same time, we are driving innovation for a sustainable future. We have a major responsibility to keep society running, today and tomorrow. To meet the demands of a fossil-free 2045, we are investing in new solutions – every day.

Expanding renewable electricity

The sun is a powerful and endless source of energy. With solar cells, we can turn sunlight into electricity – and solar parks are growing rapidly. But for us, it’s also about using land sustainably and adding more value than just power production.

By expanding solar power, we increase the share of renewable electricity in the grid while supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 7: "Affordable and clean energy for all."

Sweden’s largest solar park with battery storage

Along the E4 motorway in Linköping lies one of Sweden’s largest solar parks, co-owned by Tekniska verken, Infranode and Alight. It includes 30,000 panels across an area the size of 22 football fields, producing about 11.5 GWh per year. On a sunny summer day, it can generate electricity equivalent to the annual use of 18 houses or 36 apartments.

We’ve also installed two large batteries that can store up to 2,000 kWh. These help Svenska kraftnät maintain the right frequency in the electricity grid and improve overall grid stability. This is now Sweden’s largest combined solar and battery facility. Our electricity trading company, Bixia, handles balancing for both the park and the batteries.

Wind power is a key part of the renewable mix. By 2025, Tekniska verken’s total electricity production will match Linköping’s annual electricity consumption – around 1,300 GWh. That is why we are continuing to expand our wind power capacity.

En medarbetare syns i förgrunden framför rötkammare och gödselbrunn

Biogas Production in Linköping

Linköping has more than 20 years of experience in producing fossil-free, renewable biogas. We operate the largest co-digestion plant in the Nordic region, with an annual production of 120 GWh. The raw materials include household waste from around 20 municipalities, as well as sewage sludge, industrial waste, and waste from slaughterhouses and the food industry.

Turning waste into valuable resources

Biogas production delivers two climate-friendly products:

  • Biogas, which replaces fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emissions

  • Biofertiliser, which replaces artificial fertilisers and returns nutrients to the soil

It is a closed cycle that transforms household and community waste into renewable energy and sustainable agriculture.

A few of our innovations in short

Smarter Waste Sorting for Increased Recycling

At Tekniska verken, we only want to use waste for energy recovery when it can no longer be reused or recycled. Burning waste is not the cause of the problem – it is a result of a society that constantly consumes and discards cheap, newly produced materials. This inflow must be reduced, and we all have a part to play.

That is why we are investing in better sorting.

In 2023, we began building a high-tech sorting centre in Linköping. It will be operational in 2025 and will automatically sort out plastics, metals, paper, and organic material from household waste handled by Tekniska verken.

This investment is a major step forward in resource-efficient waste management – helping to increase material recycling and reduce what goes to incineration. It is a real move up the waste hierarchy, towards a more circular society.

Culvert system in Vallastaden

In Vallastaden, we developed a unique culvert system that creates new opportunities for infrastructure solutions in several respects. 

Purification of pharmaceutical residues

In 2017, we commissioned Sweden's first large-scale plant for pharmaceutical residues at the Nykvarn wastewater treatment plant in Linköping. There, about 90% of the pharmaceutical residues are broken down with the help of ozone.

Smarter Heating for a Sustainable Future

Our thermal storage tank in Lambohov is an important step towards our vision of building the world’s most resource-efficient region. The 45-metre-high tank was inaugurated in autumn 2023 and has since been delivering heat to the people of Linköping in a smart and sustainable way.

The tank works like a giant thermos – a well-insulated steel container that stores hot water for district heating. It holds 30,000 cubic metres of water, equivalent to 1,300 MWh of heat – enough to heat 80 houses for a year from a single charge.

The goal is to make district heating more efficient and resilient. The tank helps us to:

  • Balance the heat supply

  • Reduce the risk of network disruptions

  • Perform maintenance without using costly or less eco-friendly energy sources

New stormwater reservoir in Linköping

On the edge of the Trädgårdsföreningen city park, we built a stormwater reservoir in 2022 to reduce the risk of future flooding. Rainwater and melted snow run off quickly from roofs, streets and squares. In nature, it seeps down through the ground, but in cities, water needs somewhere to go to prevent flooding in basements and street drains. So we built a reservoir with a capacity of 1 500 cubic metres to provide temporary storage for rain and melt water. When a lot of water comes in at once, the water is collected in the reservoir, instead of filling up pipes and causing flooding and other damage.

Fossil Eye

Together with Vattenfall Värme and Umeå Energi, Tekniska verken is developing FossilEye, the fossil eye. This is a measurement system that will make it possible to scan how much plastic is in a waste bin. The aim is to increase plastic recycling and reduce emissions from cogeneration. One million tonnes of plastic are burned every year, although a large proportion could be recycled and given a new life. Therefore, together with our partners and the supplier Robowaste, we have developed Fossil Eye.

Pilot project on heat storage in the bedrock

In collaboration with the company Hydroc Energy Storage, we have built a facility in Vallastaden that will be able to store summer heat in the bedrock. The idea is that the heat will be stored untl winter, when the need for it is greater. The facility is one of the first of its kind in the world.

 

Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) and Carbon Capture Storage (CCS)

We are investigating different technologies to capture, utilise and store carbon dioxide from our biogas, heat and electricity production facilities. This is an important part of our work to contribute to Linköping's goal of a fossil-free 2045.