RECENT - Renewable Community Empowerment in Northern Territories

RECENT is Renewable Community Empowerment in Northern Territories, a project of the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA), that was implemented during September 2015-August 2018. The Lead Partner is International Resources and Recycling Institute (IRRI) from Scotland, with partners from Sweden, Finland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. 

The RECENT project aimed to increase energy knowledge in rural communities, and help them to have more resilient and energy efficient public infrastructure capable of handling climate change related risks. The project also aimed to develop 24 pilot community energy and energy efficiency projects across 5 NPA partner regions. RECENT supported communities to become more energy-self-sufficient by developing small-scale solutions and building synergy between critical public infrastructure.

Pilot sites in Finland

Sodankylä	Sodankylä municipality anaerobic digestion plant
Muhos	Päivänpaisteenmaa district	Maijanlenkki eco-district
Oulu	University of Oulu rooftop PV	University of Oulu Botanical gardens, waste management
Triangel silence retreat	Hotel building rooftop PV	Anaerobic digestion plant
Enontekiö	Tunturisopuli housing complex rooftop PV

Videos on pilot sites explored in Finland:

• University of Oulu Botanical gardens
• Sodankylä
• Muhos
• University of Oulu Linnanmaa campus
  • This work is based on the diploma work of Nicholas Stewart performed within the FREED project
• RETscreen tutorial
   

Project publications:

• Baseline report (by Victor Pavlov et al.)
• Review of energy assessment methods (by Joonas Alaraudanjoki)
• Master's theses
  • University of Oulu pilot
    • Nicholas Stewart: Energy innovation needs in public buildings: Sizing a solar PV system for the University of Oulu Linnanmaa campus (work financed by the FREED project
  • Sodankylä pilot 
    • Joonas Alaraudanjoki: Realizing bioeconomy in the North of Finland: Design of a co-digester for the municipality of Sodankylä
  • Muhos pilots
    • Antton Niemelä: Sustainability of Small-scale Renewable Energy Solutions in Northern Rural Communities: Case Eco-district of Päivänpaisteenmaa
    • Tiina Puirava: Sizing of the renewable energy and waste management solutions for an eco-district: Case Maijanlenkki
  • Triangel pilots
    • Alfred Akoore: Sizing of a digester for energy generation from farm and food waste
    • Alec Svoboda: Application of Innovative Energy Solutions for a Hotel Complex in Northern Finland: Case “Triangel” retreat in Haukipudas (work co-financed by the FREED project)
  • Enontekiö pilots:
    • Kalle Herva: The application of solar photovoltaics in the extreme North (work co-financed by the FREED project) 

 

More information on the project main page