Umeå Energi is an energy company based in the town of

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, U ...

in Sweden. It is responsible for the supply of electricity, along with providing district cooling,

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 ...

as well as

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

services through a subsidiary by the name of UmeNet.

History

The company was founded in 1887, reportedly due to a conversation between an engineer from London and a Swedish mayor at a wedding. Mayor Rothoff attended the wedding of steam engineer John Frederick Luth and Euphrosyne Selma Helena Grafström from Umeå. Rothoff was so impressed that he left the money to buy a Luth & Rosén steam engine. This power plant was operational in 1892 when 36 arc lights became the first electric lighting in Umeå.Culture
UmeaEnergi.se, retrieved 2 June 2014 In 1899 the power production became more ecological when a hydro electric power unit was installed at the

Ume River The Ume River (Swedish: ''Ume älv'' or ''Umeälven'') is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake ''Överuman'' by the Norwegian border within the Scandinavian ...

rapids at

Baggböle Baggböle is a small village on the Ume River in northern Sweden, approximately upstream of the city of Umeå. The village was a base for sawing local timber in the nineteenth century, with a sawmill powered by the water of the river rapids close ...

.History
Umea Energi, retrieved 25 May 2014 A hydro plant was built at the rapids in 1916 that supplied electricity at 40,000 volts to be used over 20 miles away. This plant was not demolished until 1958 when the plant at Stornorrfors was opened.
, Umea.se, retrieved 25 May 2014 In 1992 Umeå Energi celebrated the centenary of electric power in Umeå by donating two restored arc lights for display at

Umeå Town Hall Umeå Town Hall ( sv, Umeå rådhus) was built after the fire in 1888 that burnt the city to the ground. It was erected on the site where the previous town hall (built in the 17th century) had been located and was completed in 1890. The archi ...

Operations

Umeå Energi has a power plant at

Ålidhem Ålidhem is a residential area in Umeå, Sweden. About 9,000 people live in Ålidhem, which is located about 3 km outside the city centre. It was built between 1966 and 1973 as a part of the Million Programme and, because of the proximity to the U ...

that generates energy in the form of heat from various sources including household, industrial wastes and biomass. The heat generated is used to drive turbines. The company operates a second set of power plants at Dava that runs on

cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

, or combined heat and power, thus generating power from wastes and biomass. There are two plants at Dava. The first Dava plant's main power source is burning waste which it can do at 20 tonnes per hour creating 65 MW of power. Most of this energy is used for district heating with only 10 MW used to create electricity. The plant also burns waste from the logging industry. Air pollution is kept to a minimum due to filtration systems on the exhaust gases. The second Dava plant creates 105 MW of power from a similar fuel mix as the other older plant, but with the addition of peat. In this case only 30MW is used for electricity.Dava CHP
, umea.se, retrieved 8 May 2014 Apart from these two power stations, the company also operates a hydroelectric power plant, a wind farm, and also generates power using sewerage wastes. The site is also home to an abandoned 100m long steel gutter that has become an iconic skateboard spot.
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Phototherapy initiative

Umeå witnesses sunrise at 9a.m. and sunset at 2p.m. during some months, thus leaving it dark for most of the day. In order to overcome this problem, in 2012 the company installed lamps in multiple bus shelters as part of a

light therapy Light therapy, also called phototherapy or bright light therapy is intentional daily exposure to direct sunlight or similar-intensity artificial light in order to treat medical disorders, especially seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and circad ...

(phototherapy) initiative to minimise the effects of SAD (

seasonal affective disorder Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder subset, in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year. Common symptoms include sleeping too much, having li ...

). The company stated in a press release that these lamps are safe, with ultraviolet rays being filtered out, and the light is generated using power from renewable sources.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umea Energi Umeå Electric power companies of Sweden Electric power distribution network operators in Sweden Electricity retailers in Sweden Companies based in Västerbotten County