Vattenfall Energy Solutions replaces German Armed Forces’s last hard coal fired heating system

A new innovative heat supply for the Franz-Josef-Strauß barracks in Altenstadt has been put into operation and the last coal-fired heating system of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) is thus history.

Instead, an environmentally friendly energy and heat supply solution is being launched that avoids around 3,000 tons of CO2 annually and involves regional partners. Biogas Kees & Nuscheler GmbH & Co. KG and Vattenfall Energy Solutions GmbH put the innovative decentralized plant into operation on site.

The facility directly involves several partners in the region: In addition to a nearby cowshed, there is a biogas plant in which cattle slurry from the barn and plant silage are converted into biogas. The biogas is used to generate electricity and heat; the heat has so far remained unused. Vattenfall now enables efficient and sensible use all year round. For this purpose, a two-kilometre heat pipe was laid to the new boiler house. This covers the hot water and heating needs of the barracks almost all year. Vattenfall installed three low-temperature boilers based on natural gas to meet the increased heat demand during the cold season.

This individual decentralized energy solution in Altenstadt is exemplary for the good and solution-oriented cooperation of all partners in the region, at the municipal level, with regional companies and even private supporters. Christian Feuerherd, Managing Director of Vattenfall Energy Solutions GmbH, explains: “Vattenfall has committed itself to making energy supply without fossil fuels possible within one generation. We are very pleased that we were able to convince the German Armed Forces of our innovative solutions and support them in switching to an environmentally friendly heat supply. We are particularly grateful for the excellent cooperation with local entrepreneurs, through which we contribute to local value creation: on the one hand by purchasing bio-generated heat in the neighborhood and on the other hand by leasing a private plot of land for the new heating house”.

Facts and Figures:

• Franz-Josef-Strauß barracks with up to 1,260 persons and around 30 accommodation and functional buildings.
• The modern facility avoids about 3,000 tons of CO2 per year
• new efficient energy solution with a total output of up to 5 megawatts
• in addition to the heat supply, the previously unused waste heat from the nearby biogas plant is used
• Start of construction of the local heating pipeline: mid-August 2019
• Completion: January 2020
• Line from the biogas plant to the Bundeswehr barracks: approx. 2,000 m
• Input materials for biogas plants are a mixture of cattle slurry and plant silage (renewable raw materials – silo maize, grass silage, whole plants)
• The mixture goes via the dosing device into the fermenter, where methane is released at approx. 42 °C with the exclusion of air and with the help of bacteria
• The rest of the fermentation substrate is returned to the fields as liquid fertiliser
• the combustion process in the biogas plant generates previously unused waste heat, which is now transferred