District heating in Winnenden
What began with the deployment of a mobile central energy plant has developed into a sizeable district heating supply system with a connected load of 45 megawatts. Today Fernwärme Winnenden GmbH & Co. KG in Winnenden (Baden-Württemberg) supplies the Schelmenholz district, the development areas Waiblinger Berg and Lange Weiden and parts of downtown Winnenden. The annual heat output suffices to serve the needs of 3,500 single-family households.
The district heating station, modified and modernized in 1992, is operated with gas and light heating oil. Since 1997 the landfill gas occurring in the Eichholz domestic waste dump also is used to produce energy. In summer 2012 we extended the district heating station with a unit-type combined heat and power plant. The heart of the additional CHP unit is a natural gas engine. It has an electric and thermal capacity of two megawatts each. With the CHP unit the energy efficiency of the plant has improved considerably.