STOCKHOLM EXERGI AB

Their core work

Stockholm Exergi is Stockholm's primary district heating and cooling utility, supplying thermal energy to the majority of the city's buildings through one of the largest district heating networks in northern Europe. They operate large-scale biomass-fired combined heat and power plants and have positioned themselves as a frontrunner in bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), pursuing a goal of becoming climate-positive by removing more CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit. In EU research, they contribute as an industrial partner and real-world demonstrator — providing the large-scale urban energy infrastructure that academic and policy-focused consortia need to test and validate their findings. Their value in any consortium is direct access to operational city-scale energy systems and the institutional credibility of a major Nordic utility.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their earliest H2020 involvement (2015–2019), Stockholm Exergi contributed to a smart city lighthouse project centered on demonstrating energy savings and enabling replication across European cities — the focus was operational efficiency and urban infrastructure showcasing. By 2020, the pivot is striking: their second project is entirely about negative emissions, climate neutrality pathways, and the governance frameworks needed to deploy carbon removal at scale. This shift mirrors Stockholm Exergi's own corporate strategy, which moved from being a clean energy supplier to actively pursuing net-negative carbon status through BECCS — making their research participation an extension of their industrial roadmap rather than opportunistic grant-seeking.

Stockholm Exergi is moving from infrastructure operator toward a pioneer role in industrial-scale carbon removal, making them a high-value partner for any consortium addressing BECCS deployment, biogenic carbon accounting, or deep decarbonisation of urban heat systems.

How they like to work

Stockholm Exergi has never served as a project coordinator in H2020, instead joining as a third party or participant — a pattern consistent with a large industrial utility that contributes operational assets and real-world context rather than leading research agendas. The 71 unique consortium partners across just two projects indicates they joined large, multi-partner European consortia (GrowSmarter in particular was a flagship project with an extensive network). For a potential partner, this means they are a reliable industrial anchor rather than a research driver — they bring infrastructure access, operational data, and credibility, and expect the scientific and coordination workload to sit with research-focused partners.

Despite only two H2020 projects, Stockholm Exergi has connected with 71 unique consortium partners across 18 countries — a broad network explained by GrowSmarter's structure as a large lighthouse city project with extensive replication partners across Europe. Their geographic reach is firmly European, with no evidence of partnerships outside the continent.

What sets them apart

Stockholm Exergi is one of the very few large urban utilities in Europe that is both operating a major district heating network at city scale and actively participating in research on negative emissions technology — a combination that is genuinely rare in H2020 project rosters. For a consortium working on carbon removal, BECCS, or urban decarbonisation, they offer something that universities and research institutes cannot: a live, operating industrial system in a major capital city where findings can be demonstrated and validated at meaningful scale. Their public-facing credibility in Stockholm also makes them a strong partner for projects requiring public acceptance research or municipal policy engagement.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NEGEM
  Positions Stockholm Exergi at the frontier of negative emissions science as the only utility-scale district heating operator in a consortium quantifying responsible carbon removal pathways — directly aligned with their corporate BECCS ambitions.
• GrowSmarter
  A flagship EU lighthouse city project that brought Stockholm into a large pan-European demonstration consortium, establishing their network of 71+ partners and validating their role as an urban energy testbed.