27 – A symbiotic network developed around an energy production district: the case of the Norrköping municipality and the island of Händelö, Sweden

The municipality of Norrköping in Sweden is home to a well-established and well-developed Industrial Symbiosis network. In particular, the urban area and surrounding industrial and agricultural activities have developed a series of exchanges and symbiotic connections over time, showing an always-increasing attention to environmental and resource scarcity and security issues. Main companies in the network are from the forest industry, agro industry and electricity / gas production sector. A combined heat and power plant is based on the island of Händelö, in front of the city of Norrköping, and a whole industrial symbiotic district focused on energy and fuel production has developed on the island over the years.

The main challenge that led to the creation of the energy production symbiotic district on the island of Händelö was the need of the Norrköping municipality and nearby companies to secure a continuous supply of electricity and heat at competitive prices, being independent from market fluctuations and geo-political instability. Thus, they started using locally available sources, mainly municipal and industrial waste, to produce energy.

The discovery process, started with the creation of the energy production district, continued including also non-energy related exchanges. In particular, it was considerably sped up when companies specialised in the use of waste raw material for the production of new usable products moved into the region.

The main precondition that allowed the development of the symbiotic district in Norrköping was the strong position of the municipality, which transformed concerns about environment and safety into concrete actions aimed at supporting impact reduction and Industrial Symbiosis development in the region. In addition, also the European Union and the Swedish government provided regulations that helped the development of the symbiotic network, such as landfill taxes and the Waste Framework Directive, or the Carbon Dioxide taxation. The important presence of farming activities in the region is also an enabler of several existing exchanges, as they provide raw material for biofuel production. Finally, the innovative mind-set of most of the companies operating in the area has also allowed to trigger and speed up the Industrial Symbiosis development process.