MAN Energy Solutions has commissioned a 51 MW gas-fired, combined-heat-and-power plant in Frankfurt, Germany.
The Stadtwerke Frankfurt has invested nearly €60 million ($66M U.S.) in the development of this power plant. It is the company’s largest investment project in the last two decades.
The plant replaces an old CHP plant fueled by lignite coal, which will retire soon. The older plant supplied electricity to approximately 33,000 households and commercial customers and heating to an estimated 19,000 households and companies. The new CHP plant will use climate-friendly natural gas and provide heat and electricity to the same distribution network.
The CHP plant is powered by five MAN 20V35/44G gas engines, which provide 51 MW of power and 50 MW of district heating. A hot-water boiler with 20 MW of capacity has also been installed, increasing thermal capacity to 70 MW.
“Through introducing this new plant, we will save up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 annually in the future, thus ensuring the environmentally-friendly supply of heat and electricity to the Frankfurt (Oder) region,” said Torsten Röglin, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Frankfurt. “In the old power plant, around 60,000 tons of brown coal dust were burned annually. In contrast, the new plant not only exclusively uses natural gas, which is more climate-friendly, but is also particularly fuel-efficient with an overall efficiency of more than 90%.”
MAN CEO Uwe Lauber defended the new plant's fuel resource in the wake of criticism over Germany's decision not to ban Russian gas supplies.
“The military attack on Ukraine by the Russian government, which is contrary to international law, is currently causing many people to view natural gas sceptically as an energy source,” said Lauber. “However, we have to separate the question of the origin of the raw material from that of the technology. Flexible, gas-fired power plants like the new combined-heat-and-power plant in Frankfurt are an indispensable technology on the way to the energy and heat transition. We need such facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, phase out coal, and partner renewable energies.”
MAN has deployed is 20V35/44G gas engines in a variety of projects globally. Three years ago, it delivered 10 of its 20V35/44G gas engines with a combined capacity of over 100 MW to power a steel mill in Bolivia.
