Finland is set to build its first industrial size geothermal plant in 2016 to heat its second largest city.

It will crank out up to 40 megawatts of geothermal heat for the southern city of Espoo, which neighbours Helsinki 20 kilometres to the west.

Finnish energy companies Fortum and St1 reckon it can supply up to 10% of the heating requirements for Espoo’s district heat network.

Geothermal energy uses water pipes drilled deep in the ground to bring up heat from the earth.With no fuel to burn, it is an emission free source of power which is part of the appeal according to Fortum’s Vice President for Heat and the Baltics.

Jouni Haikarainen said: “Our goal is to reduce emissions caused by district heating… This is also a new field for us and we are anxiously waiting to start the drilling.”