European Energy has entered into an agreement with Aabenraa Fjernvarme to take the surplus heat from the future e-methanol plant at Kassø in Aabenraa Municipality. This means that more climate-friendly and cheap district heating will enter heating network.
Even though the e-methanol plant’s primary focus will be to produce e-methanol, it will during the process of converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide into e-methanol generate a lot of excess heat. The surplus heat will be able to benefit the citizens of Aabenraa Municipality, as it can be included as part of the heat supply in the municipality. Overall, the plant has the potential to supply heat to 3,300 households.
Pioneering sector coupling project
„We are very happy with the agreement with Aabenraa Fjernvarme. This collaboration shows the citizens of Aabenraa Municipality that there are local, green benefits when renewable energy projects come to the local vicinity. At the same time, the collaboration will provide valuable knowledge on how we can get the most out of the world’s largest e-methanol plant, and thus also show in practice how sector coupling can be made with other future Power-to-X projects“, says Rene Alcaraz Frederiksen, Head of Project Economics & Optimization, Power-to-X, from European Energy.
„We are very happy with this agreement that we have entered with European Energy. The more surplus heat we can use in our district heating system rather than producing it ourselves, the better. When we can use resources that are left from other processes, instead of producing ourselves, it is a win-win for everyone: for the climate, our customers, European Energy and for ourselves. The plant will also contribute important knowledge about how we integrate and operate this type of sector integration“, says Tommy Palmholt, CEO at Aabenraa Fjernvarme.
Power-to-X based directly on local green power
The e-methanol plant will be connected directly to the Nordics’ largest solar park in Kassø and will therefore partially run on locally produced green electricity. The location of the facility means that Aabenraa Fjernvarme will establish a heating line to the facility close to the Kassø substation.
– The future pipeline is dimensioned in such a way that it is very easy for us to connect extra surplus heat to our district heating system from e.g. data centers or the other heat sources from the PtX facility, concludes Tommy Palmholt.
European Energy expects within a few years that even more surplus heat can be collected as more experience is gained in the operation of the facility.
Part of the funding for the integration between European Energy’s PtX plant and Aabenraa District Heating comes from Det sydjyske erhvervsfyrtårn, which is a collaborative project where a number of organisations, companies, universities and the South Jutland municipalities have organized themselves into the ‘Committee for Green Energy and Sector Coupling’ .
Efficient and flexible energy solutions
The Danish Board for Business Promotion has awarded the Business Lighthouse EUR 14mllion from REACT-EU for 13 test and demonstration projects in Southern Jutland as well as educational initiatives with a focus on green energy and sector coupling.
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Fyrtårn Syd has helped identify the district heating project as one of the promising examples of sector coupling – that is, energy solutions that cut across the traditional energy sectors and link the different forms of energy more closely together.
„We are happy to have contributed to this project being realized and to be a pioneering project for others in the region on how to abolish silo thinking within the energy sector and thus develop the efficient and flexible energy solutions that we need in the green transition , which is currently more urgent than ever“, says Steen Brødbæk, who is chairman of the Committee for Green Energy and Sector Coupling.
In addition to European Energy and Aabenraa Fjernvarme, Aalborg University and the University of Southern Denmark are also participating in the development of the new district heating solution.
Facts:
– The facility is connected directly to the solar park in Kassø and will produce green methanol for, among other things Maersk’s first fossil free container ship.
– The green hydrogen is produced by splitting water through the supply of solar cell power in an electrolysis plant
– The surplus heat from the production comes initially from the surplus from the process where, among other things, hydrogen is converted to methanol. (hcn)
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