One-stop shop for electricity and district heating: EnBW Kraftwerke AG
EnBW Kraftwerke AG plans, builds and operates the bulk of the EnBW power plant portfolio. Its remit includes generating electricity and district heating in the cogeneration sector, thermal waste processing and engineering services in the power plant field. At its Stuttgart site, EnBW Kraftwerke AG runs the Gaisburg and Stuttgart-Muenster thermal power stations and also the Marienstrasse heating plant, not to mention four run-of-river hydropower plants on the Neckar and the entire district heating network in the region.
Stuttgart-Muenster has a tradition in power generation. As early as 1908, steam turbines produced the first electricity here. Today, the plant in Muenster enjoys a special status within the EnBW power plant portfolio: it is not devoted to power generation but to thermal waste processing and district heating. The waste incineration plant can recycle around 420,000 tons of waste every year (reference heating value 11,000 kJ/kg). EnBW thus makes a significant contribution to reliable environmentally friendly waste disposal in Baden-Wuerttemberg. By feeding dissipated heat from the waste incineration plant into the district heating network around 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels can be saved annually.
High investment to improve site efficiency
In the Stuttgart-Muenster and Stuttgart-Gaisburg heat and power plants, electricity and district heating are simultaneously generated according to a cogeneration principle in order to make better use of resources. In 2009 and 2010 new turbines were added to both sites to improve the efficiency of district heat generation. In the region, the proportion of district heating from highly efficient cogeneration has thus risen to over 90 per cent. To achieve this figure, EnBW Kraftwerke AG invested around 22 million euros – thus making a major contribution to protecting the Stuttgart environment against dust, sulphur and nitrogen oxide pollution.
Sustainable energy supply
204 km of pipeline from Plochingen via
the Altbach/Deizisau heat and power
plant and Esslingen to Stuttgart, an energy
volume equivalent to 1,748 million
kilowatt hours, fed to 25,000 households,
1,300 businesses and 300 municipal
buildings go to make EnBW’s largest
district heating network in the Stuttgart
conurbation. District heating is ideal for
heating and supplying hot water to detached
houses and apartment blocks, or
heating offices, schools, kindergartens or
swimming pools. Heat and power plants
also supply low-cost process heat for
industrial production. The contribution
made by heat and power plants towards
a sustainable future is quite considerable.
Economical use of fossil fuels, reduction
of CO2 emissions and the targeted promotion
of regenerative energies – district
heating forms the basis for a sustainable
energy supply.
Water is energy
Hydropower is currently the world's most important source of electricity
generated by renewable energies. EnBW has long been a champion of
this reliable, climate-friendly form of power generation and has an aboveaverage
share of hydropower in its energy mix nationwide.
EnBW has nurtured a tradition in hydropower
for over a century. With almost
70 sites – 27 of which alone are on the
Neckar – EnBW is widely represented in
Baden-Wuerttemberg: by small-scale
hydro power station, large run-of-river
hydro power station and pumped storage
hydro power station. The company combines
traditional and modern plant engineering
in its operation of hydro power
station, with the aim of preserving historic
elements while meeting the present and
future requirements of a modern power
plant portfolio.
Local hydropower on the Neckar
With 367 kilometres from the Swabian
Alb mountains to the Rhine river at Mannheim,
the Neckar is of key importance
as an energy source. On the navigable
stretch of the river between Mannheim
und Plochingen, all 27 barrages have
been extended by hydropower plants as
of 2011. In the Stuttgart district, these
include the Hofen, Bad Cannstatt, Untertuerkheim
and Obertuerkheim plants.
They generate electricity for around
35,000 people. The newest power plant
on the Neckar, the Esslingen hydropower
plant, has been in operation since the
beginning of 2011. The run-of-river hydro
power stationon the Neckar use the
Neckar outflow and the respective falls
in height between the barrages to generate
power. Around 330,000 people can
be supplied with electricity thanks to an
output of around 100 megawatts and an
average of around 530 million kilowatts
annually. Furthermore, approximately
490,000 tons of CO2 emissions are thus
saved. These hydro power station are
operated by Neckar AG, an 82 per cent
subsidiary of EnBW Kraftwerke AG.
Neckar AG also bears responsibility for
ensuring that the barrage levels required
for shipping are maintained.
Exploiting potentials,
modernising sites
Many run-of-river hydro power station
on the Neckar and other rivers have been
adapted in recent years to the requirements
of modern power generation, e.g.,
by optimising the blades on turbines,
automating control systems or digitalising
turbine controls. However, EnBW not
only invests in the modernisation of existing
plants, it also wants to build new hydro
power station where it is technically,
ecologically and economically feasible to
do so – like the new hydropower plants
in Esslingen or Rheinfelden. Diverse sites
are thus currently under examination for
suitability and potential advantage for
Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Stuttgart-Gaisburg heat and power plant: centrally located in the Stuttgart region's district heating network
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