Hamburg commissions 80 MW wind power-to-heat project

Hamburg has completed the construction of  an 80 MW wind power-to-heat project located at the site of the coal-fired thermal power station Wedel. The facility, powered by wind energy, will transform excess wind power generated in the wind-rich regions of northern Germany into low-carbon heating for approximately 27,000 househols. Previously, excess energy from wind turbines had been turned off due to a lack of transmission capacity. The new system will heat water to around 140 degrees Celsius; the resulting hot water will be fed into Hamburg's district heating grid.

The installation is one of the largest wind power-to-heat installations to date in Germany. It will offset up to 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Hamburg aims to replace coal-fired facilities with plants capable of running on both natural gas and hydrogen by 2030.