Energy Solutions For People and The Planet
About MegaWatt Solutions Nordic
MegaWatt Solutions Nordic AB is a Swedish renewable energy company that was founded in 2016. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BrainHeart Energy Group.
Following the joint venture that was created with Vattenfall for geoenergy services in the private housing market in 2016, the BrainHeart Energy Group has been focusing on developing geoenergy solutions for large real estate as Megawatt level solution.
MegaWatt Solutions is a leading energy technology solutions provider with a vision for radical change within the energy industry.
We seek to innovate and complement the traditional energy market and provide a secure, efficient and inexpensive supply of renewable energy, while also helping society to massively reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and support national and global climate targets.
How the EBox was Created
On 12 October 2011, while sitting in her corner office on the 57th floor at the China World Kerry Centre, Inga Pichler, CEO of BrainHeart Industries (a subsidiary of BrainHeart Capital) received a phone call. It was from the General Manager of Invest Sweden Agency (ISA). During the call, they discussed opportunity of the Chinese government collaborating with a large regional real estate developer in Tianjin to implement a geoenergy heat pump solution from Sweden in the city’s new district that was under construction. The first phase encompassed 1 million square metres!
The decision was grounded in the fact that the heating supply in Tianjin was fuelled by coal and natural gas. The Chinese government has pledged a 20% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Many coal-fired power plants were in the process of being shut down, and the price of natural gas was increasing year after year. The Tianjin municipality wanted to use subsidies given by Chinese Central government to implement renewable energy solutions, while also wanting to be seen as a role model for the rest of the country.
ISA believed this would be a great opportunity to promote and demonstrate Swedish geoenergy technology in China. They hoped that BrainHeart Capital, together with BrainHeart Energy, could be involved in the development of such a cooperation.
BrainHeart Capital began investing in energy sector in 2008. From 2010 onwards, Cynthia Jonströmer, CEO of BrainHeart Capital, decided to make a move into geoenergy (specifically ground source heat pumps, GSHPs). Sweden, with a population of fewer than 10 million people, nonetheless held the number one spot for geoenergy usage with a long history of technology R&D, GSHP development and a extensive experience of geoenergy projects. The world’s top heat pump providers tend to be situated in northern Europe, and the Nordics in particular. However, at that time, GSHPs were largely only suitable for use in single-family housing.
The pace of development in China was very fast. In June 2012, Ulf Jonströmer, the CEO of BrainHeart Energy AB Group, visited Tianjin and signed the framework agreement for the implementation of geoenergy solutions in these projects with the Tianjin Municipality and the regional real estate developer. The Councillor from the Swedish Embassy participated in the official signing ceremony.
In August 2012, BrainHeart Energy AB began the first pilot project with a 2,000-sqm sales office in China. BrainHeart Energy AB sent Swedish engineers to Tianjin to work through the summer and autumn months. Despite the goodwill on both sides, problems started mounting. Complex equipment tends to break if not skillfully handled, and when it breaks you need both the technical expertise to fix it, as well as spare parts. Different trading rules meant that our equipment got stuck in Chinese customs. A great deal of essential details were lost in translation between engineers and local installers, ultimately leading to installers arriving from Sweden to deal with the situation. Project costs skyrocketed. In addition to this, some of the drilling work was not up to standard and had to be redone. The costs mounted coming in at four times over the budget. Still, the costs were arguably just a comparatively small hurdle to overcome. The biggest challenge was to secure a successful implementation within an unprecedented time frame by Swedish standards, and all that with very limited resources.
In December 2012, the project was at last successfully completed. Through the onboard SCADA system, our Swedish engineers could control and modify minor errors in the system. The Chinese customers were very impressed and satisfied with the geoenergy technology. And although the pilot project was a success, there were serious questions regarding next steps. How could we possibly complete the a project of a milllion square metres using the same method. It seemed entirely unfeasible.
What could be done?
During the same period, BrainHeart Energy experienced fast growth in the Swedish market. While vigorously developing the detached housing (villa) market, the company discovered that many large real estate developers in Sweden were now willing to use environmentally friendly geoenergy to heat buildings instead district heating.
Despite being our home market, BrainHeart Energy still encountered problems and found that traditional GSHP technology and installation methods were not suitable for the implementation in large real estate projects.
Again, what could be done?
Cynthia Jonströmer, CEO of BrainHeart Capital, realised that in order to be able to export green technology from Sweden to faraway destinations and enable trustworthy large-scale geoenergy (GSHP) projects, various steps had to be taken. The production had to industrialised to reduce cost, tailor-made parts had to be reduced, onsite manual work had to be cut down, and digital controls and data collection had to be implemented. Moreover, human intervention in heat pump operation also had to be dramatically reduced. High-quality and dependable operations played a vital role in the success of the project. Cynthia urged the team, together with Swedish experts and research institutions such as KTH, to develop an energy technology solution to solve these problems and meet the market requirements.
In 2016, with establishment of MegaWatt Solution Nordic AB (then BrainHeart Energy Technology), our first Energy-in-a-Box (EBox) solution, with fully functional, mission critical, exportable and plug & play features, was born and delivered to the market.
COMPANY CULTURE
AND
CORE VALUES
BRAIN + HEART.
BRAIN
BALANCE: Everything we do, we take measured approach, conduct in harmonious balance.
RESPONSIBILITY: While consistently challenging ourselves and being courageous in our endeavours, we are always aware of our corporate responsibility, our moral responsibility, our professional responsibility, our legal responsibility, as well as our social responsibility.
ASPIRATIONS: We shall serve as positive role models to others and to ourselves. We shall practice admirable behaviours and demonstrate to live with integrity, optimism, hope, determination and compassion. We shall be inspired by our role models and to emulate them.
INTEGRITY: We practice strong moral and ethical principles and values. This is marked by consistency, and uncompromising adherence to honesty, authenticity, truthfulness, open-mindedness and courage.
NOBILITY: We want to benefit the world with low cost renewable energy and best of breed technology. We want to take on the world biggest challenges. We are willing to give our time and energy to promote social and environmental sustainability for the benefit of humanity.
HEART
HUMILITY: We are greatly inspired by outstanding achievements for the greater good. In recognition of the complexities of life, of virtues and talents that others possess, one becomes humbled to the awesomeness of what one can achieve. We go about our work in a positive and inspiring manner, while always retaining gracious and humble gratitude.
EMPOWERMENT: This is a key component in human resource management in our company. We empower the capacity of individuals, teams, subsidiaries and/or partnerships to take control of their circumstances, exercise power, individually and collectively, they are able to help themselves and others to maximise the quality and achieve their own operational and personal goals.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Accountability is the direct answer to the Empowerment. It is about ownership, initiative, answerability and responsibility. It’s the foundation of a good teamwork, as it recognises that other team members are dependent on the results of your work. This is about when one says one will do something, one follows it through and get it done. It’s about open, proactive communication to keep team members informed of the status of your commitments, because it has a direct impact on others’ ability to achieve their commitments.
RESPECT: Respect is a motivational function that enables people to explore their full potentials. We promote self-esteem and honour respect for others. We exhibited our respect through care, concern, consideration for others, their needs, feelings, dignity and rights. We embrace differences and diversity.
TRUST: Trust is the glue in society. It is the foundation of our civilisation. Trust is the catalyst fosters learning and development. Through high quality performance, we will win trust and build credibility from our team members, partners and customers. Through our personal commitment to these values, we can create an environment in which everyone can achieve their full potential.
MWS ADVISORY BOARD
Jan-Erik Nowacki
Professor Björn Palm (KTH)
Dr Signhild Gehlin
Investment History
