Vattenfall to build Germany's largest heat accumulator
Sweden's state-owned energy company Vattenfall has announced that it is building Germany's largest heat accumulator and storage system at its Reuter West CHP plant in Berlin, with the aim of making a significant contribution to the country's energy security as it races to wean itself off Russian gas.
At 45 metres high, with a diameter of 43 metres and a capacity of 56 million litres, the heat accumulator will store district heating water at a temperature of 98°C. Together with its power-to-heat plant – which is the largest in Europe – and sits next to the power plant site, the heat storage will help to increase the use of surplus renewable energy from the grid.
The heat accumulator is set to be commissioned at the start of 2023 and it should take two months to fill the hot water tank with a volume of water equivalent to 350,000 bathtubs.
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The site was assessed by the CEOs of Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG, Tanja Wielgoß, and the Berlin environmental senator, Bettina Jarasch.
"The heat storage shows that the future of heat supply doesn’t lie in individual solutions, but in overall systems", said Wielgoß. "Because it ensures that the many building blocks of the future Berlin heating system, both large and small, complement each other perfectly."
The heat accumulator is located on the power plant site directly next to the power-to-heat plant, which converts surplus wind or solar energy into heat on-site. In the future, Vattenfall says it will be possible to store this heat temporarily in the hot water tank – before it is supplied to the municipal heating grid.
"With a thermal output of 200 megawatts, the accumulator can supply heat for 13 hours – even in very cold weather," added Wielgoß.
Other local waste heat sources – such as wastewater and thermal waste – can also be connected to the accumulator with flexibility as required.
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"The plant is an important step on the path to more flexibility in Berlin’s heat supply and at the same time making it more climate-friendly, independent and safer," said Wielgoß, during a tour of the inside of the under-construction heat accumulator.
Vattenfall Wärme Berlin AG supplies municipal heating to around one-third of the buildings in Berlin.
Vattenfall aims to be climate neutral by 2040 – and the decarbonisation of the municipal heating supply is a key element in reaching this goal.
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