Heat Entrepreneurship Cluster of South Ostrobothnia

Heat entrepreneurs produce heat for customers by using renewable solid bio-fuels. In recent decades this operational model has become more common in Finland. Different skill sectors have formed around heat entrepreneurship such as training, research, consultation and equipment production. A heat entrepreneurship knowledge cluster has been built in South Ostrobothnia Finland.

The HECSO development project has assembled the heat entrepreneurship knowledge cluster of South Ostrobothnia. The knowledge cluster has been made to utilise, in many different ways, the companies located in the region, other actors in the region and the internationalisation of the whole province.
A principal component of internationalisation is the knowledge cluster’s training package on heat entrepreneurship, which is on offer to interested foreign target groups. Vocational Adult Education Sedu is responsible for the training. The training package lasts for one week, and is compiled through co-operation with the Finnish Forest Centre and regional heat entrepreneurs and machine and equipment manufacturers.
Heat entrepreneurship is the production of local renewable energy, where an entrepreneur or company sells heat at an agreed price to a user. In the best scenarios there can be many heat purchasers. Heat is conveyed to the customer from the heating plant by a district heating network. Generally the fuel is the entrepreneur’s own forest or locally procured wood, but it can also be wood refining by-products, wood for re-cycling and peat.

The knowledge cluster consists of heat entrepreneurs, heat entrepreneurship units, research, training and the supply of machines and equipment for the whole production chain. The knowledge cluster can also be utilized internationally by offering knowledge and training opportunities to foreign target groups.