FOR the fifth year-in-a row all electricity used at the Helsinki International Horse Show, which hosted a Longines FEI World Cup Jumping qualifier at the end of October, was generated entirely from horse manure. Over 150 megawatt hours of energy was created from the 100 tonnes of manure collected from competing horses during the four-day event in the Finnish capital.

The manure-to-energy system developed by Fortum, an international company specialising in electricity generation, heat production and waste recycling, met all the equestrian event’s electricity needs, including lighting, scoreboards and mobile phone charging stations. The surplus energy that was generated went back into the national grid to heat homes in the Helsinki area.