PRESS RELEASE | December 13, 2022 | The world’s largest e-methanol plant will produce green fuels and supply green heat to the citizens of Aabenraa. European Energy has agreed with Aabenraa Fjernvarme to supply excess heat from the e-methanol plant. In total, the plant will provide heat to 3,300 households.
European Energy has agreed 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 the network.
The plant will produce e-methanol, but when converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide into e-methanol, there will be a lot of excess heat. The surplus heat now benefits 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.
– We are delighted with the agreement with Aabenraa Fjernvarme. The collaboration can show the citizens of Aabenraa Municipality that there are local, green benefits when renewable energy projects come to the area. At the same time, the collaboration will provide valuable knowledge on how to get the most out of the world’s largest e-methanol plant. And we will see how in practice 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 delighted with this agreement we have entered into 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 left over from others instead of producing ourselves, it is a win-win for everyone: for the climate, our customers, European Energy, and 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 partially run on locally produced green electricity. The facility’s location means that Aabenraa Fjernvarme will establish a heating line to the facility close to the Kassø substation.
– The future pipeline is dimensioned so that it is straightforward for us to connect extra excess 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 to collect more surplus heat within a few years as more experience is gained.
Part of the funding for integrating European Energy’s PtX plant and Aabenraa District Heating comes from the South Jutland business lighthouse. This is a collaborative project where several organizations, companies, universities, and the South Jutland municipalities have organized themselves into the ‘Committee for Green Energy and Sector Coupling.’
Denmark’s Business Promotion Board has provisionally awarded the Business Lighthouse DKK 105 million. DKK from REACT-EU for 13 South Jutland test and demonstration projects and educational initiatives focusing on green energy and sector coupling.
Fyrtårn Syd has helped identify the district heating project as one of the promising examples of sector coupling – 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 area. We now develop the efficient and flexible energy solutions that we need in the green transition, which is currently more urgent than ever, says Steen Brødbæk, 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 developing the new district heating solution.
Facts:
- The plant 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.
- 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.