Innovative co-generation
In the Hermsdorf combined heat and power plant, the Stadtwerke subsidiary job is setting the course for the energy transition. Using air heat pumps and transforming surplus electricity to heat with the power-to-heat strategy, district heating will be generated there in the future.
Since 2013, the facility management and joint poerating company job (Jenaer Objektmanagement- und Betriebsgesellschaft) has been generating electricity and district heat at the Hermsdorf combined heat and power plant using environmentally friendly cogeneration. At first, using wood chips; since 2019 due to rising wood prices from natural gas. The plant located in Keramikerstraße 3 supplies about 3,500 households and numerous companies reliably with heat and hot water.
Currently, job is working on a conversion of the power plant facilities in order to make the district heating supply for Hermsdorf secure and affordable in the long term. By the beginning of 2023, three natural gas-fired combined heat and power plants (CHP) with 1 MW thermal and electrical output each will be built. Together with three heat pumps and a power-to-heat plant, they will form an innovative combined heat and power (CHP) system that will make the Hermsdorf power plant lower in emissions and less dependent on the fossil fuel natural gas.
The planned CHP plant can react very flexibly to energy market conditions and generate district heat either with CHP units, with the help of heat pumps or by means of a power-to-heat plant (electricity to heat). This will enable the Hermsdorf power plant to respond to market conditions on a daily and hourly basis. In this way, job can use its plants to either withdraw electricity from the power grid, which is characterized by fluctuating generation from renewable energies (heat generation using power-to-heat), or supply it (electricity generation using CHP). This makes the plant more efficient, lowers on-site emissions, and reduces dependence on natural gas.
