“Cogeneration power plant of the month” of October: New plant at Funkerberg Technology Park uses MWM gas engines to generate energy for up to 5,000 households
Mannheim, November 27, 2023
In April 2023, the new cogeneration power plant at the Funkerberg Technology Park in Königs Wusterhausen in the Dahme-Spreewald district of the German state of Brandenburg was officially inaugurated. Two cogeneration power plants of the Berlin-based specialist SES Energiesysteme GmbH with two MWM TCG 2020 V12 gas engines were installed in the state-of-the-art plant to supply more than 3,000 households with heat and about 5,000 households with electricity. In recognition of its performance “Energie & Management” magazine designated the Funkerberg cogeneration plant as “cogeneration power plant of the month” of October 2023.
Distributed, flexible district heat generation with MWM gas engines
The new Funkerberg cogeneration power plant was implemented by Wärmeversorgungsgesellschaft Königs Wusterhausen mbH (WKW) in cooperation with a range of companies including SES Energiesysteme GmbH, MVV Umwelt GmbH in Mannheim, and ETL Energietechnik Leipzig GmbH. After two years of construction, the power plant was officially inaugurated in April 2023. The two highly efficient SES-HPC 1000 N cogeneration power plants, a 5-MW boiler, and a 10-m3 buffer storage tank were installed by SES Energiesysteme GmbH. The modern cogeneration power plants with the two MWM TCG 2020 V12 gas engines each of which has an electrical output of 1 MW and a thermal output of 1.2 MW—generate heat and power for the connected households supplied by the local heat supplier WKW. The cogeneration power plants are also equipped with SCR catalysts, and the mixture cooling system has been integrated in the heating circuit. The plant has an electrical output of 2 MW and a thermal output of about 8 MW.
Use of exhaust heat for municipal heat supply as part of decarbonization strategy
The new energy center in the Funkerberg Technology Park is part of WKW’s decarbonization strategy. Apart from the new Funkerberg cogeneration power plant, the supplier also operates cogeneration power plants at two other locations. At all three locations, the operation of the cogeneration power plants is heat-controlled via a central control system. With the new Funkerberg cogeneration power plant, all three CHP plants at the three locations together generate a base and average load of about 33,500 MWh. The summer load is operated continuously with one of the two new Funkerberg cogeneration power plants and the biomethane cogeneration power plant at the Schenkendorfer Flur location. The second Funkerberg cogeneration plant is ramped up for six hours a day in order to cover the average daily heat demand of 2 MW. As of the start of the heating season, the operation was gradually stepped up to 5.6 MW.
From 2025, the new Funkerberg cogeneration power plant with the two MWM gas engines is to take over the generation of district heating for winter operation from the Schenkendorfer Flur and Schillerstrasse locations. For this purpose, the Funkerberg cogeneration power plant is to be connected to MVV’s biomass power plant via a new transport route. The transportation route will be used to feed the previously unused exhaust heat of about 10 MW from the biomass cogeneration power plant into the Funkerberg cogeneration power plant, from where it will be distributed to the city area via the existing supply route. The objective is to decouple about 30,000,000 kWh of carbon-neutral heat per year, combined with a reduction in emissions of about 10,000,000 kg of carbon dioxide per year compared to conventional heat generation.
