Renewable heat supply for Memmingen South and Benningen
e-con connects Rohde & Schwarz and the municipality of Benningen with sustainable, economical and secure energy through a district heating network
Everyone is talking about the energy transition. High prices for oil and gas, decarbonization, transformation to CO2 neutrality and security of supply require smart concepts. But how can industry, commerce and municipalities be supplied with CO2-neutral heat in practice? One answer to this question is provided by e-con together with Rohde & Schwarz Messgerätebau GmbH and the municipality of Benningen with its project “Regenerative heat supply Memmingen South and Benningen”. The forward-looking project enables a reliable and affordable district heating supply entirely without fossil fuels.
For this purpose, e-con is building an energy center in Benningen. Heat will be generated on the basis of a sustainable and ecological supply concept using biomass, together with a modern and innovative district heating network for the industrial and commercial area in the south of Memmingen and the community of Benningen. Economical operation, guaranteed heat as well as support and maintenance from a single source round off the energy concept.
Companies are increasingly faced with the major challenge of converting their heat generation and supply systems, which are to a large extent based on natural gas. This is because decentralized alternatives are associated with high investment costs, very high operating and maintenance expenses, and long approval procedures. At the same time, district heating offers a compact, economical and emission-free package for the connecting customer. “Framework conditions such as resource availability, security of supply or the energy turnaround and the associated legal and ecological requirements are increasingly demanding that companies and municipalities take measures to increase their energy efficiency and align their energy supply with the future. Our preliminary two anchor customers will meet future sustainability requirements from the start of supply in the fall of 2023,” says Peter Waizenegger, CEO of e-con. Only by implementing pioneering energy supply solutions in the industrial, urban and private sectors can the energy turnaround be achieved and climate protection targets met. In the future, up to 3,750 tons of CO2 will be saved and more than 2.5 million cubic meters of natural gas will be substituted per year.
The entire area will thus receive a sustainable, economical and supply-secure energy and the region a lighthouse project with charisma. “Other companies can follow the example of the Benningen municipality and Rohde & Schwarz Messgerätebau GmbH. Due to the modular and flexible structure of the heat supply and the network dimensioning, the entire industrial and commercial area of Memmingen South can be supplied with environmentally friendly heat in the future. This will also give the city of Memmingen the opportunity to supply the southern part of the old town and, for example, the newly planned combined swimming pool with regenerative heat,” says project co-initiator Andreas Müller, Managing Director of Alois Müller GmbH.
The work will start at the beginning of 2023 with the 1st construction phase. This will involve the construction of the energy center and the connection of Rohde & Schwarz to the district heating network. Other users will then be able to connect to the network for the 2023/2024 heating period. Last but not least, in addition to all the practical aspects, there is always the good feeling of doing something for the environment and thus for the next generations with climate-friendly heating.
Information on the energy center and district heating network:
Planning: Since June 2022
Start of construction: February 2023
Commissioning: September 2023
Construction of energy center: Benningen industrial park
Capacity wood chip boiler: 5,000 kW
High-temperature heat pumps: 1,500 kW
Buffer storage: 200,000 liters
Heat generation: 15,000 MWh/year
Length of network: 2.5 km (1st section) and 1.7 km (2nd section)
Water content of network: 200,000 liters
Saving of 3,750 tons of CO2/year
Substitution of 2.5 million cubic meters of natural gas/year
Substitution of 2.5 million liters of fuel oil/year
Investment costs: 8 million euros