Energy consumption
Energy consumption
The majority of electricity is used to run the core processes of the Company – in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants, and in the Networks to operate pumping stations.
In 2014, the total consumption of electricity by the Company decreased, mostly due to very good weather conditions and low occurrence of heavy showers, which stabilized the work processes and reduced the use of electricity. Also, significant investments have been made to reduce energy consumption.
In the water treatment process, electricity is mostly used for pumping water in the various stages of the treatment process and to the water network. Significant volume of electricity is also used for producing ozone. Although the use of surface water has slowly increased year-on-year (to the level of 22.61 million m3 in 2014), the electricity consumption in the water treatment process has shown a small stable decrease.
Electricity consumption in the wastewater treatment process is to a large degree impacted by the weather. Electricity consumption has reduced in the Wastewater Treatment Plant due to the decreased volume of precipitation and small number of heavy showers, but because of a longer retention time of wastewater in the treatment process the consumption per unit has remained similar to the previous year.
Several significant investments were made in 2014 to reduce energy consumption. E.g. over 100 measuring points facilitating more accurate measurements were established in the Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants to measure and monitor the energy consumption of the equipment used in the process. Based on the energy consumption analysis, we amended the operating instructions of the high-energy usage equipment (e.g. the main pumps) in 2014 at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Also, the full repairs of the ozonators at the Water Treatment Plant contributed to the increase in energy efficiency. Additionally, the equipment in the pumping stations was made more energy efficient in 2014.
Consumption of heat energy
The majority of heat energy is used for running the core processes, also for heating the operations- and office buildings. Heat energy is purchased from AS Eesti Gaas and AS Tallinna Küte. To some extent the use of heat energy is compensated by the heat energy produced out of biogas in the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In 2014, the heat used in the Wastewater Treatment Plant was mainly produced out of biogas and only a small proportion of heat was produced out of natural gas purchased externally. Water Treatment Plant produces heat out of natural gas purchased externally. Ädala main office is on central heating, which is also based on natural gas in our area. In Maardu we rent a small customer service office with a very low use of heat energy and an insignificant effect on the total consumption.
Biogas production and usage
Biogas created in the process of digesting sludge at Paljassaare Wastewater Treatment Plant is used as much as possible in our work processes. In 2014 the biogas production has been in the same level as previous years.
In 2014, a total of 2,036,060 m3 of biogas was produced in the digesters of Paljassaare Wastewater Treatment Plant. Biogas was directed to the boiler house in the Wastewater Treatment Plant for heat production. In 2014, 70% (1,425,156 m3) of biogas was used for heat production and part of the biogas was burned.
Fuel consumption
The Company along with its subsidiary has 131 vehicles for carrying out different operating tasks. The biggest group of vehicles is passenger cars and operating vehicles, including minivans and team vans. We have a total of 96 passenger cars and operating vehicles and a total of 35 special purpose vehicles such as tractors, loaders, excavators, jet washing trucks etc.
In 2014, the total consumption of fuel has slightly reduced compared to the previous year. We continuously try to keep the fuel consumption under control through the fuel limits set on the car users and GPS-tracking devices. Part of the cars have been transferred to shared use so that more people would be able to use the cars to deliver their work duties and save costs. The project and analysis on the use of electrical- and hybrid cars is currently suspended due to termination of state grants.
The total number of vehicles has increased by the vehicles purchased by our subsidiary OÜ Watercom due to an increased volume of works. Consequently, the consumption of diesel by our subsidiary has grown in 2014.
Transport
The Company does not keep a separate record on the mileage covered, but this can be calculated per vehicle type and the average fuel consumption. In 2014, the mileage of vehicle transport was 2.75 million km and in 2013 the respective figure was 2.97 million km. Although the total number of vehicles has slightly increased, the fuel consumption and mileage of vehicle transport have still decreased a little. All transport kilometres have been calculated in line with the calculation method for people transport, because we do not have sufficient data to calculate the exact mileage for the transport of goods.
The statistics on the use of other types of transport such as airplane, bus, ship and train will be provided by our main partner for travel services. Whilst planning their trips our staff always pick the cheapest options and thus not all trips are purchased through the travel agency, specially the bus and train trips. However, the majority of airline tickets have been bought through travel agency so far. In 2014, the Company’s employees used plane transport for short-distance flights totalling 220,000 km, mainly to the UK. In 2013 the Company was awarded with the Nasdaq Balti Baltics Award for Best Investor Relations and thus 6 of the Company’s employees made a business trip to New York in 2014 to represent the Company in the investor community. Consequently, approximately 106,000 km of long-distance flights were added to the usual mileage. The total airline mileage in 2014 was of 326,000 km.
Our staff makes quite a few business trips to Finland, where they usually go by boat. In 2014, the mileage of ship transport was approximately 3,200 km, which is roughly on the same level with 2013 mileage.