Frankfurt CHP plant opts for hydrogen-ready gas engines

MAN Energy Solutions has commissioned a new municipal combined heat and power gas power plant in Frankfurt, Germany.

Previously, this plant was operated with both lignite and natural gas, however, the new facility will operate on natural gas only and in the future could utilise green hydrogen blends to further reduce emissions.

The 60 million Euro ($66 million) Stadtwerke Frankfurt plant is powered by five MAN 20V35/44G gas engines, which will provide 51MW of electrical energy and 50MW of district heating.

MAN has also installed a 20MW hot-water boiler, increasing the plant’s thermal capacity to 70MW.

The new gas-engine power plant will replace a soon-to-be-retired CHP plant, which has supplied electricity to around 33,000 residential and commercial customers since 1997.

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“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 region,” said Torsten Röglin, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Frankfurt.

“In the old power plant, around 60,000 tonnes 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%.”

According to MAN Energy, the gas engines will boost plant flexibility. In combination with a new 10,000 cubic-meter heat-storage facility, waste heat from the engines can be stored when heat demand is low while continuing to generate electricity. The engines can also reach full output in less than five minutes and easily cope with rapid load changes.

Dr Uwe Lauber, CEO of MAN Energy Solutions, said that current events are “causing many people to view natural gas sceptically as an energy source”.

“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.

“With this new, combined-heat-and-power plant, Stadtwerke Frankfurt is proving that cogeneration with district heating is a viable, long-term, economic concept for the immediate reduction of CO2 emissions that simultaneously ensures reliable electricity and heat supply to the local population.”