As Smart Energy Partner, Vattenfall joins Åre 2019 to enable climate-neutral World Ski Championships

Vattenfall has joined the Åre 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships as Smart Energy Partner. The cooperation will benefit Åre 2019 through various smart energy solutions that help reduce the climate impact of the event.

For example, Vattenfall will install a fast charging station that will be used to recharge the 33 electric vehicles that the event’s official car supplier Audi will provide and the ten electric snowmobiles provided by Vattenfall for event transportation purposes.

Vattenfall will provide 20 temporary public charging stations around Åre.Vattenfall also transported an advanced battery storage from Germany with a total capacity of about 340 kilowatt hours. The truck that transported the battery ran on HVO 100 biodiesel - to be on pair with the goal: a climate-neutral championship. This advanced energy storage solution will support peaks in power demand during the Championships.

Moreover, Vattenfall has installed solar panels on the roof of the National Arena building. The panels will generate 37 000 kwh of electricity annually. Post-February 2019, these solar panels will continue to provide power to the Swedish Ski Association’s offices, leaving a concrete sustainable legacy for years to come.

– Vattenfall has, just like we at Åre 2019, a holistic approach to sustainability, demanding each area of their business to contribute to the goal of being fossil-fuel free within a generation. Their contributions as Smart Energy Partner bring us even closer to meeting our sustainability goals while improving the long-term perspectives for the sport of skiing, said Niklas Carlsson, CEO of Åre 2019.

Vattenfall’s vision is to enable fossil-fuel free living within a generation, and as a leading European energy company, they are launching the transformation from within their own business.

– The impact of climate change is something we see around us and we want to inspire people to take steps towards more fossil free living. The partnership with The Swedish Alpine Ski team also enables us to work with the whole team of skiers and trainers. For example, the team’s goal of reducing their climate impact by a half till 2022 is a strong message and we are more than happy to be able to support them on this journey, says Lars Ejeklint, Climate Coach at Vattenfall.

Besides joining Åre 2019 as a Smart Energy Partner, Vattenfall is helping to offset the direct emissions created by the organization of the Åre 2019 Alpine World Ski Championships, estimated to be the equivalent of 5000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Through the combined impact of all the measures undertaken by both Åre 2019 and Vattenfall, the World Ski Championships will become climate neutral.

The planned measures include but are not limited to:

Vattenfall

o   Solar panels on the roof of the Arena house – generating 37 000 kwh of electricity annually.

o   Turbo charging station and temporary charging solutions for Åre 2019 electric fleet of vehicles such as the Audi e-trons and electric snowmobiles used for transportation from the Welcome / Operations Center and International Broadcasting Center at Holiday Club to the Arena – the electric snowmobiles will save up to 98 percent of CO2 compared to a fossil fuel driven snowmobile.

Åre 2019

o   Permanent connection of the National Arena to district heating

o   Commitment by Åre 2019 to fossil-fuel free transportation in its event-internal services, through securing the provision of HVO100 for its entire fleet of non-electric vehicles used for deliveries and transportation such as the accredited shuttle and food & beverage services.

o   Smart energy solution for using the heat of the SkiStar servers located in the basement of the Arena house to heat the entire building.

Vattenfall / Åre 2019

o   Selection of certified projects to offset any remaining direct emissions after the contribution of the above active compensation measures.

The offset projects will be selected based on following criteria:

-        Projects must be approved by Gold Standard (GS).

-        Emission reductions will be categorized as a “Renewable energy project” or “Energy efficiency project” as defined by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

-        Projects are to be located in Asia. This is because many components and materials connected to the climate footprint of renewable energy are sourced from Asia.

About OneTonneFuture

Vattenfall’s view of the challenge begins with education and inspiration. To that effect, Vattenfall has developed a free of charge climate app that helps anyone who wants to learn more about the impact of their everyday choices on climate. The app is called OneTonneFuture and it calculates an individual’s footprint and provides concrete ideas on how to reduce that.