In the future, the plant will produce environmentally friendly power for 21,500 households and heat for 6,000 average single-family homes in Northern Germany.
By opening the new CHP plant in Stapelfeld, HanseWerk Natur and GE, which manufactured the engine, contribute significantly to achieving the goals of environmental protection and to stabilizing the grid in the Hanseatic City. HanseWerk Natur invested 6.8 million Euros in the new power plant.
"Decentralized energy plants play a key role in the energy transition. They provide efficient power generation at or near the point of use," said Udo Bottländer, director of Human Resources at the HanseWerk group. "By further developing CHP and implementing such innovative projects, the HanseWerk group is putting an important component of the energy transition into practice in the Hamburg metropolitan region."
The innovative CHP plant has an electrical output of nearly 10 megawatts (MW) and can generate over 76 million kilowatt-hours of electricity as well as up to 80 million kilowatt-hours of heat per year. As at other plants, HanseWerk Natur relies on the cooperation with GE. The centerpiece of the plant is the Jenbacher J920 FleXtra gas engine. This model is the most powerful and efficient gas engine ever developed by GE. To date, eight J920 FleXtra gas engines have been delivered worldwide. Using an innovative plant concept in which the waste heat of the engine is fed back into the heat circulation for efficient use, the plant’s overall efficiency can be increased significantly to over 95 percent. This allows CO2 emissions to be cut by approximately 60 percent compared to generating power and heat separately. This amounts to more than 11,000 tons less of CO2 annually.
"By implementing our flexible and powerful gas engine technology, we are pleased to have made a vital contribution to the HanseWerk group’s largest combined heat and power plant in Northern Germany," said Oliver Klitzke, Executive Operations GE Germany. "HanseWerk Natur and GE have been working together intensively for many years on the further development of CHP plant technologies as well as its services concepts. The overall technical concept of the plant in Stapelfeld sets a new benchmark in the areas of efficiency and flexibility."
The flexible gas engine in Stapelfeld is very well-suited for grid stabilization. The increasing number of regenerative power generation plants is creating too much power on days with plenty of wind and sun and too little power on days with little wind or sun, representing particular challenges for the power grid. HanseWerk Natur will therefore integrate the new CHP plant into its virtual power plant, which already consists of 65 CHP plants.
As part of the virtual power plant, CHP plants operate interconnected to respond quickly to a surplus of electricity in the network (negative operating reserve). If there is a power shortage, the CHP plant in Stapelfeld is able to feed energy into the grid within five minutes (positive operating reserve).
"This allows us to make a significant contribution to the stability of power supply in the Hamburg metropolitan region," said Thomas Baade, CEO of HanseWerk Natur. "The high versatility of the new plant is crucial for this project."
