Green ReMark

Green ReMark project will promote economic development in South-Eastern Finland and St. Petersburg regions with the main focus on the future regional markets’ perspectives in the green energy production and use. The project will support the areas future global competitiveness in green energy markets, as well as, promote transparency in energy markets among the producers and end users.

The project will add co-operation and networking between energy producers, public administration and energy end users. In addition, the local market possibilities may be anticipated and capitalized strategically. The project aims at identifying future power supply strengths and weaknesses, as well as, to support the green energy market development.

Xamk contribution in the project will focus especially on
– studying the Smart Grid possibilities in the power supply networks
– studying the requirements needed for the growing electric vehicle (EV) usage especially in Finland. The study will determine the changes needed in infrastructure to enable EV use in-between Kotka (FIN) and St. Petersburg (RUS).
– studying the current power supply challenges among energy producers and end users
– identifying the strengths and weaknesses in local green energy market development

The project has official web-pages at: www.greenremark.com

Outputs

Profitability of Finnish solar energy

The report ”The Economy and Possibility of Energy Community in Finnish Solar Energy Production” examines the profitability of solar energy production for example consumers. In addition, the benefit from combining consumption into an energy community and combining solar energy production in one big unit has been calculated. According to the report, these measures will bring significant benefits to both consumers and society.

The report is available at: https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icdtli-19/125918505.

Supporting electric cars used in transport in Finland

The report ”How electric passenger cars in traffic use are subsidized in Finland” handles subsidies to the electric cars in traffic use in Finland, which fees there are for electric cars in Finland and how is the electric cars taxation compared to the rest of the car fleet. The report also deals with subsidies for the construction of charging infrastructure for electric cars. The report highlights the relevance of electric cars in reducing CO₂-emissions, and how the electric car fleet should develop in the future in order for Finland to achieve its climate goals.

Electric cars in Finland are subsidized by direct purchase subsidy, and with reductions in car related taxes and user fees, these both are based on the car’s emission values. Electric car users have to pay additional tax for driving power. The only ones that are exempt from additional tax for driving power in Finland are the petrol powered car owners. This was a surprising finding from a climate perspective. The electric car fleet in Finland is still quite modest, but has doubled annually in recent years. Considering of CO₂ emissions and Finland’s climate goals, the electric car fleet should be considerably larger than at present, with up to 670,000 electric cars by 2030, studies show. The government should be more supportive, and encourage the use of electric cars, as well as the construction of infrastructure more strongly, so that the climate goals set for Finland can be achieved within the desired timeframe.

The report is available at: http://greenremark.com/documents.

Electric car charging infrastructure

In order to enable the use of electric cars, the project examined the charging infrastructure of electric cars along the E18 road between Kotka and St. Petersburg. The review was carried out by observing on-site possible locations of charging points and conducting surveys of petrol station chains, charging operators and electric motorists. The key role is played by electric motorists, for whom the needs of the charging infrastructure were identified from the users’ point of view. On the basis of the review and the literature review, proposals were made for the location of new charging points for the section of road in question and a return on investment calculation for the example site.

The report is available at: http://greenremark.com/documents.