German CHP Starts Up on Wartsila Know-How

German utility Kraftwerke Mainz-Wiesbaden (KMW) was handed the keys to a Wartsila-built 100-MW, gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plant late December, the Finnish engineer said February 16.

The excess heat from power generation is used to warm around 40,000 modern single-family homes, improving the efficiency of the reciprocating engines. They are needed as they can replace intermittent renewable energy in under three minutes, although they are a lot less efficient than combined-cycle turbines.

KMW can also use the plant for bidding into the short-term balancing markets, since power output can be quickly adjusted to respond to fluctuations in the power demand, as signalled by the electricity price, Wartsila said.

Berlin has pledged that CHP plants will supply a quarter of the total electricity production by 2025 as part of the plan to be carbon-neutral by 2050. It has set the preliminary target of cutting emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, and the phase out of coal and lignite as well as the closure of uncompetitive manufacturing will contribute.

KMW said the plant "provides us with a modern, agile, low-carbon system capable of utilising green energy assets to the full. Fast acting power generation is essential in today’s energy markets, and this plant meets all our requirements in this respect."

Wartsila delivered the 34SG engines 2018 and the contract includes a 15-year maintenance agreement that guarantees the plant’s availability and reliability. It has similar agreements with other utilities in Germany.