For around 40 million euros, Stadtwerke Leipzig is building a large-scale solar thermal plant. The company intends to use the power of the sun to supply heat in the future. The new plant will feed heat into the grid of Saxony's largest city from 2026. "We are thus increasing the proportion of renewable energy in our district heating system," explained Stadtwerke Managing Director Karsten Rogall at the official start of construction on Tuesday in Leipzig-Lausen. We are talking about up to 20 percent of Leipzig's heating requirements every day in summer, and an average of around 2 percent over the year. The municipal company itself spoke of the largest solar thermal plant in Germany.
The plant is being built by Ritter Energie on an area of around 14 hectares. In future, collectors will use solar energy to heat water to around 110 degrees and then feed it into the district heating network. The plant's peak output is estimated at 41 megawatts and it is expected to supply around 26 gigawatt hours of heat per year.
According to the information provided, Ritter Energie has already implemented large-scale solar thermal projects in other cities such as Potsdam, Mühlhausen and Greifswald. "This is a new dimension," explained Managing Director Matthias Johler. The system is to be controlled as efficiently as possible using an algorithm. The solar radiation in the collector field is measured and the flow rate of the water in the collectors is adjusted: The less the sun shines, the slower the water flows.
The majority of the area will not be sealed, but will serve as a flowering meadow. "The new
Solarthermie Leipzig West shows how renewable energies and species protection can be combined," praised Energy and Environment Minister Wolfram Günther (Alliance 90/The Greens).
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