Detox City Lapeenranta: Interview about municipal innovation in heat with Ilkka Räsänen

From City Stories by Energy Cities by Energy Cities

September 9, 2025 · 20 min

About this episode

The episode features an interview with Ilkka Räsänen discussing municipal innovation in heat in Lappeenranta, Finland.

In this episode we interview Ilkka Räsänen, a 63-year old jovial Fin who is one of the innovation leaders in his municipality. Electricity prices in Finland are amongst the cheapest in Europe and one reason for Finland’s big move towards electrification of heat. lkka Rasanen works for the municipality of Lappeenranta in the South East of Finland. The 700.000 inhabitants are essentially getting their heat through a district heating network which is owned by the municipality and supplied by clean energy from the municipal utility. The future in that Finnish town is electric and you’ll understand why Lappeenranta was awarded this year’s Covenant of Mayors award as part of the Cities Heat Detox Campaign. Find inspiration for your city’s heat detox at the Covenant of Mayors’ website: www.eumayors.eu.

People in this episode

Guest: Ilkka Räsänen

Topics covered

municipal innovation
district heating
electrification of heat
clean energy

Keywords

Covenant of Mayors
Cities Heat Detox Campaign

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Lapeenranta, Finland, Europe, Lappeenranta, the South East of Finland