Helen Oy, stylized as HELEN, formerly known as Helsingin Energia (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

) and ''Helsingfors Energi'' (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

), is one of the largest energy companies in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The company, founded in 1909 produces and sells electricity,

district heating District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...

and district cooling. Helen is headquartered in the

Sähkötalo Sähkötalo (lit. ''Electricity Building'') ( sv, Elhuset) is the name of the building located in the Kamppi district of central Helsinki, which serves as the headquarters of HELEN, the municipal energy company of the city of Helsinki. The buildi ...

building in central Helsinki. It operates five power plants in Helsinki and four in the

Kymenlaakso Kymenlaakso ( sv, Kymmenedalen; " Kymi/Kymmene Valley") is a region in Finland. It borders the regions of Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, South Savo and South Karelia and Russia (Leningrad Oblast). Its name means literally ''The Valley of River Kymi'' ...

region. Additionally, the company has nine district heating plants in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

History

The first electricity company in Helsinki was founded in 1884. Several energy companies were established over the following twenty years, each capable of producing enough electricity to power only a few

city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...

s. ''Helsingin kaupungin sähkölaitos'' (electricity works of the City of Helsinki) was established in 1909. Every small electricity company in Helsinki was transferred to the ownership of the city. During this period a large power plant was constructed in the

Suvilahti Suvilahti ( sv, Södervik) is a cultural center and former energy production area in Sörnäinen, Helsinki. It encompasses nine buildings and two large gasometers. Construction of a steam turbine Power station, electrical power plant was complet ...

neighborhood of

Sörnäinen Sörnäinen ( sv, Sörnäs; ''Sörkkä'' or ''Sörkka'' in Helsinki slang) is a neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. Sörnäinen is located a little more than one kilometre north from the coastal centre of Helsinki, near the district ...

in Helsinki. Since 1953 this power plant has produced

in addition to electricity. In 1977 the company was merged with the coal gas-producing ''Helsingin kaupungin kaasulaitos'' (gas works of the City of Helsinki). The new works was named ''Helsingin kaupungin energialaitos'' (energy works of the City of Helsinki). Later the production of coal gas was ceased, and the gas pipes were sold to a company called ''Helsinkikaasu'', which started to provide

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. In 1995 the name of the company was changed to ''Helsingin Energia''. In 2015, the company was restructured as a limited company and renamed Helen Oy.

District heating production

In 1953 Helsingin Energia started to produce district heating. Nowadays over 90% of apartments in Helsinki use district heating. Helsingin Energia is the biggest company in Finland to sell district heating.

Electricity production

The company sells electricity to over 400,000 customers around Finland. Approximately 74% of the electricity is produced in power plants located in Helsinki.

References

External links

Helsingin Energia
{{Authority control 1909 establishments in Finland Electric power distribution network operators in Finland