13.10.2023
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
One of the largest heat pumps in Europe supplies Mannheim households with green heat from now on. And the Mannheim have even more plans.
By 2030, Mannheim-based utility MVV Energie wants to generate district heating in Mannheim and the region entirely from climate-friendly energy sources. With the commissioning of their first river heat pump, the Baden-Württemberger have come a little closer to this goal: 3,500 households would be supplied immediately with climate-friendly heat from the Rhine water, it is said from the company.
Thereby the large heat pump supplied by Siemens Energy, which the Grosskraftwerk Mannheim AG (GKM) operates for MVV, is with a thermal output of 20 MW and 7 MW electrical output currently in Germany the largest heat pump integrated into a district heating network and one of the largest plants of its kind in Europe, according to MVV.
Special timing and tact were required when integrating the plant into the control technology, installing the Rhine water pump with the associated piping and fittings in the existing cooling water pump house, and laying the piping for the Rhine water and district heating during ongoing operation, says Gerard Uytdewilligen, technical director of Grosskraftwerk Mannheim AG.
EU label for climate-neutral and smart cities
To drive the heat transition, MVV is investing in a broad portfolio of renewable generation options: For example, the connection of the MVV waste-to-energy plant in 2020 and the MVV flow heat pump this year will be followed as the next step by the commissioning of a sewage sludge treatment plant. In 2024, MVV will also connect its biomass power plant to the district heating grid. Other green options, such as deep geothermal energy, additional river heat pumps, biomethane plants, electrode boilers or the use of further industrial waste heat are also planned.
"We are not lamenting; we are acting!", summarizes MVV CEO Georg Müller - and the commitment is paying off: on 12 October, it was announced that the city of Mannheim is to be the first German city to receive the EU label for climate-neutral and smart cities. The EU Commission wants to honor the successful development of municipal climate contracts with the label.
With its "Mannheim Model," MVV has committed itself to becoming climate-neutral by 2040 at the latest and climate-positive thereafter, i.e. to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. In doing so, MVV says it is relying on a triad of heat turnaround, electricity turnaround and green customer solutions.
As part of the energy turnaround real laboratory "Large-scale heat pumps in district heating networks" sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Climate Protection (BMWK), the MVV flow heat pump is one of five large-scale heat pumps currently being installed at various locations in Germany at different environmental heat sources.
Author: Katia Meyer-Tien
Accessibility
Language
