09/22/2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
Münster's heat turnaround has progressed one step further. The large heat pump to be put into operation by December 2023 has arrived in the Westphalian metropolis.
Another piece of the puzzle has added Münster to its heat turnaround. Strictly speaking, there are four pieces: In these portions, the new large heat pump has made it from the manufacturer in the Bavarian Kulmbach to the Westphalian cathedral city.
Put together again, the apparatus is to do its service from December 2023. The pump is designed to be a constant companion to the combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant located in the city's harbor. It accesses the plant's waste heat and uses it to feed the district heating network. In practical terms, the pump compresses the heat in the CCGT power plant's cooling water system and then feeds it into the pipeline system.
The heat pump has a thermal output of 2 MW. Stadtwerke Münster plans to supply around 800 households with its new achievement in the future. Its operation is expected to improve the utility's greenhouse gas balance by a good 4,000 tons of CO2 saved annually. Münster achieves this because the pump "only runs on strictly certified green electricity with 'Green Electricity Label'," explains project manager Simon Schneppe in a statement from the municipal utility.
The large heat pump comes to a total weight of 32.5 tons. In the city harbor, it is a neighbor to the combined cycle power plant, which uses fossil natural gas to cover about 40 percent of Münster's electricity and 20 percent of its heating needs. For Stadtwerke Managing Director Sebastian Jurczyk, the pump is a building block in the strategy of "putting the heat supply on a green footing." Other projects are in the planning and implementation stages, including solar thermal and deep geothermal.
Author: Volker Stephan
