Leipzig residents to use waste heat from Total Energies in future

28.01.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Leipziger Stadtwerke plans to use waste heat from the refinery in Leuna for its own district heating network. Construction of the pipeline is due to start in a few weeks.

Leipziger Stadtwerke is planning to build a 19-kilometre-long district heating pipeline from the industrial site in Leuna to the heating plant in Kulkwitz. The start of construction is planned for spring 2025, Leipziger Stadtwerke announced on January 27.

With the new pipeline, the municipal utilities want to make industrial waste heat from the Total Energies refinery in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, available for heating Leipzig households. In terms of figures, there is enough heat for 100,000 homes. The connection to an existing pipeline network is planned in Kulkwitz, a district of Markranstädt, southwest of Leipzig.

There are also plans to lay a hydrogen pipeline, the municipal utilities company writes in its press release. This will connect Stadtwerke's new H2-ready South gas-fired CHP plant with the existing hydrogen infrastructure in the west of Leipzig. Both projects are central components of the "Leipziger Wärme" transformation plan.

However, the planned route has not met with universal approval (we reported). Last year, the supplier had only secured around two thirds of the route in October. This was due to both private property owners who were opposed to the route and local authorities. The route runs across around 500 parcels of land. However, there will be no delays as a result, a spokesperson for Stadtwerke Leipzig has now informed the editorial team.

Many discussions about the route

We have already been able to reach an agreement with around "90 percent of the approximately 250 owners", Stadtwerke announced in writing on January 28. Stadtwerke is still in negotiations or in the process of legal clarification. "We will only build on these plots once all of this has been completed. However, this will not delay the start of construction this spring," said the Stadtwerke spokesperson. The company is also complying with the request of neighboring municipalities to examine a co-supply. The municipal utilities are in the process of "concrete technical variant tests".

Total Energies operates the large refinery in Leuna, which processes up to 12 million tons of crude oil per year for various purposes. Although it is a fossil fuel, the "unavoidable waste heat" generated in the various processes is considered CO2-neutral by law. The project therefore officially contributes to the decarbonization of Leipzig's heat supply. Stadtwerke has calculated that the waste heat could cover around 38 percent of the city's heating requirements. That would be enough for 100,000 homes.

The project is expected to cost 160 million euros. The project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics with 70 million euros. Stadtwerke received the funding decision from the Ministry of Economic Affairs in June 2024.

Author: Heidi Roider