Hamburg to build 80 MW wind-power-to-heat system

Hamburg has commenced the construction of an 80-MW power-to-heat plant that will use excess wind power to generate district heating as the German port city seeks to reduce the use of coal.

Municipal heat supplier Hamburg Waerme GmbH is responsible for the project, while transmission system operator 50 Hertz will provide up to EUR 31.5 million (USD 36.9m) for the construction of the system and its connection to the power grid, Hamburg's Authority for Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture said on Wednesday.

The plant is expected to start operation in the 2022/23 heating season and supply about 27,000 residential units, saving up to 100,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. After its commissioning, the coal-fired thermal power station Wedel will reduce the use of coal by around 50,000 tonnes per year until its shutdown which is scheduled for 2025.

This will be the second power-to-heat plant running on wind power in Hamburg after the 45-MW Karoline site which was commissioned in November 2018.

With the two projects, the port city aims to feed more green electricity into the grid and avoid grid bottlenecks as well as the shutdown of wind turbines. The two plants are part of the strategy to make Hamburg's district heating carbon-free by 2030, using wind and solar power.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.174)

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