Black gold for green heat

18.12.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Up to 50 MW heat output: After three years of construction, Iqony has commissioned a plant that harnesses waste heat from oil refineries.

Green heat thanks to black gold: District heating provider Iqony uses refinery plants from Ruhr Oel GmbH in Gelsenkirchen-Scholven for its supply. According to the company, it has commissioned a plant that "makes industrial waste heat usable for district heating on a large scale for the first time".

Iqony reports that eight heat exchangers, a transfer station and an extensive infrastructure with steel construction and pipelines were built for waste heat extraction over a three-year construction period. An almost three-kilometer-long, mainly underground pipe route connects the waste heat sources with a new pump house on the grounds of the Scholven power plant. There, the heat will be fed into the district heating network.

The 24/7 trial operation with 20 MW has been running for a few weeks now. Iqony plans to increase the total output to more than 50 MW by 2026. According to the district heating provider, "Green Heat" is the largest waste heat project in North Rhine-Westphalia.

A lost energy treasure is being recovered

"Green Heat shows how consistently we combine security of supply and climate protection," commented Andreas Reichel, CEO Steag Iqony Group, on the start of operations. "We are uncovering a previously lost energy treasure - and making it an important driver of the heating transition."

Steag Iqony estimates its total annual heat generation at 4.5 billion kWh. The network length is 2,186 kilometers. Around half of the heat generated already comes from climate-neutral sources - with Green Heat, this proportion will increase further.

Author: Manfred Fischer