From the field: In conversation with Thomas Winkler about the Kombi Power System in Kelheim

From the field: In conversation with Thomas Winkler about the Kombi Power System in Kelheim

Why did the client opt for a combi power system from Gammel Engineering?

Stadtwerke Kelheim GmbH & Co KG opted for a combined power system in the form of a wood chip CHP plant with a thermal oil circuit. Organic Rankine Cycle technology is a very sophisticated process. The company Gammel has implemented around 30 plants of a similar type in the last 10 years (http://www.gammel.de/de/referenzen). The advantages of this system are good part-load efficiency, low operating costs and it is the most economical solution to date in the power range up to 2 MWel.

What is special about the Kombi Power System biomass CHP plant in Kelheim? The special feature of the wood chip CHP plant in Kelheim is that an existing and a decommissioned heating network have been integrated. The new, heat-led biomass CHP plant now supplies 12,000 MWh of bio-heat and generates 2.2 million kWh of bio-electricity as part of the environmentally friendly combined heat and power generation with the ORC turbine. Each year, 18,600 cubic meters of forest chips from the immediate region are used for this. The environmental effect is considerable: 5,500 tons of CO2 are avoided per year!

How long was the construction time until completion/inauguration? The ground-breaking ceremony took place on March 29, 2011 - a good six months later, on October 11, 2011, the plant was officially put into operation. The entire process and planning, including project development and creation of the business plan, monitoring of implementation and support during operation, lasted from October 2010 to December 2011.

How high were the investment costs for the city of Kelheim? The investment sum for the district heating network is around 1.8 million euros. Around 2.4 kilometers were newly constructed, the network is around five kilometers in total. The investment for the technology amounted to around 3.9 million euros. The total investment amounted to around eight million euros. With the main heat consumers KELDORADO and Goldbergklinik, Stadtwerk Kelheim can operate the biomass power plant economically - even in the summer months.