"The Nordic countries are prioritising green growth and we can be world leaders. Green growth creates jobs, affects the environment in the right way, and gives fantastic competitive opportunities on the global playing field. Nordic Energy Municipality 2011 plays its part and I would like to congratulate Albertslund for their efforts," said Finland's prime minister, Jyrki Katainen, at the prize ceremony.

Albertslund's winning project is about energy effective renovation of existing housing in the municipality. The houses are pre-fabricated buildings from the 1960s and 1970s. The aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate large-scale, standardised and pre-fabricated energy solutions.

Video: The Finnish prime minister, Jyrki Hatainen, presenting the prize to this year's winner of the competition Nordic Energy Municipality 2011.

The jury, led by spokesperson Marie Donnelly from the EU Commission, justified its choice by saying that the project was about one of the great global issues, i.e. energy savings in existing housing, but also, that there is a great potential for industry development and green growth through productive co-operation between the local authority, housing associations and private companies.

Two other municipalities were also recognised at the award ceremony. Drammen in Norway was Runner-up, with a low-energy school which interacts with the energy supply of the surrounding municipal buildings. Lidköping in Sweden received Special Mention for its use of waste. Here waste is transformed into liquid fuel/biogas which can be used for many energy purposes.

The competition Nordic Energy Municipality 2011 supports and promotes sustainable energy, green growth and energy-related climate work in the Nordic countries, and is aimed primarily at municipalities which have introduced special efforts to undertake innovative energy projects. All Nordic municipalities were invited to take part in the competition.

The aim was first and foremost to draw attention to sustainable energy solutions in the local authorities and to create a platform for Nordic municipal co-operation in this area. Nordic Energy Municipality 2011 is a show window for sustainable energy solutions in the Nordic Region and the global market.

The event in Copenhagen was attended by a number of representatives from the municipalities that had reached the final, energy experts from the Nordic countries, representatives from the Nordic Council of Ministers' Secretariat and members of the jury.

This Nordic Energy Municipality 2011 initiative is based on co-operation between the Danish and Finnish Presidencies of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Energy. Finland holds the Presidency in 2011.

Nordic Energy Municipality 2011 has its own website where the projects from all the fourteen nominated municipalities are described.

http://www.nordiskenergikommune.org/

Hannu Lipponen, Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Tel. +35 850 460 2304, e-mail: hannu.lipponen@tem.fi

Vivi Yieng-Kow, Ministry for Climate, Energy and Building Tel: +45 33926700, e-mail: vyk@ens.dk