Biomass Heating Plant Supplies BMW Plant with Process Heat

July 7, 2026

Source: E & M powernews

A new biomass heating plant is supplying process heat to the BMW plant in Dingolfing. The facility is expected to cover up to 50 percent of the plant’s hot water needs and reduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 metric tons per year.

In the future, the BMW plant in Dingolfing will obtain part of its process heat from a biomass plant. The plant is operated by UP Energiewerke GmbH, a joint venture between Stadtwerke Dingolfing and Bayernwerk Natur. At the plant’s official opening ceremony, Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder expressed his confidence: “Climate protection and economic strength are not a contradiction; they go hand in hand. The partnership between the BMW Group, Stadtwerke, and Bayernwerk can serve as a model for industry in Bavaria and throughout Germany.”

The biomass heating plant has a total thermal output of 15 MW and is powered by three boilers. It will supply process heat to meet industrial demand at the BMW site. Up to 100 million kWh of heat can be generated annually, which will meet up to 50 percent of the site’s process hot water needs in the future. The investment totals 45 million euros.

The project partners estimate the CO2 savings at around 20,000 metric tons per year. As a result, total CO2 emissions at the Dingolfing site are expected to decrease by 10 to 15 percent. The general contractor for the plant engineering was “Schmidmeier NaturEnergie GmbH” (SBE) from Zeitlarn near Regensburg.

The plant supplies the BMW plant with hot water via a piping system. The heat is generated in three hot-water boilers that operate year-round. The heating plant also has its own processing facility for waste wood. The heat generated is transported via underground pipes to the plant’s energy center, where it is integrated into the existing heating network. The project partners did not provide details on the installed combustion capacity, the investment volume, or the heat production costs.

According to the plant manufacturer SNE, certain critical components—such as pumps—were designed with redundancy. In addition, the thermal output is distributed across three boiler systems, making a failure unlikely, the company stated in response to an inquiry from the editorial team.

Part of the fuel comes directly from the BMW site. According to the operators, about a quarter of the wood used consists of untreated packaging waste such as pallets and shipping crates. The remaining quantities are supplied by forestry operations within a radius of about 60 kilometers. The operators point out that this is wood waste from sustainably managed forests. Until now, some of this material has been exported as wood chips. Using it for energy on-site is intended to increase regional economic value.

Industrial companies are seeking alternatives to fossil fuels to reduce emissions and secure their heat supply. Biomass is one of the established options for applications with high and continuous heat demand. The project in Dingolfing demonstrates that biomass can also be used on a large scale for industrial process heat. The companies did not provide any information on the role the plant will play in the long term in supplying heat to the BMW site or whether further expansion phases are planned.

Nor did the parties involved provide further details regarding the contractual terms of the heat supply, the specific origin of the fuels, or the calculation of the reported CO2 savings.

Author: Heidi Roider