Investment of over 70 million euros for conversion of power plant from coal to biomass
Savings of more than 150,000 tonnes of CO2 per year at Oberkirch site
Conversion secures production site and over 1,000 jobs in Oberkirch
Construction work on the Koehler Group's combined heat and power plant in Oberkirch began with a ground-breaking ceremony on 21 April 2023. The existing power plant is expected to be expanded and converted by autumn 2024 so that it will be able to burn biomass in a climate-friendly way in the future. This conversion is part of the Koehler Group's climate strategy.
Ceremonial groundbreaking as the starting signal for the construction project
The decarbonisation of energy and steam generation is part of the Koehler Group's climate strategy. At the end of March, the trial operation for the converted lignite-fired power plant was started at the Koehler Paper site in Greiz in the presence of Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia's Minister for Economics, Science and Digital Society. Wood fines, a climate-friendly and sustainable fuel, will now be used there, which will save 24,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Both Germany and the EU are striving to become climate neutral in the long term. The EU wants to reach this target by 2050, Germany even by 2045. The Koehler Group has set itself even more ambitious goals and wants to generate more energy from renewable sources than is needed for paper production by 2030.
Among those present at the official ground-breaking ceremony at the power plant in Oberkirch, which heralded the official start of construction, were the mayor of the town of Oberkirch, Christoph Lipps, external project partners and members of the Koehler Group project team. Kai Furler, CEO of the Koehler Group, emphasised: "From our point of view, sustainability is not a trend, but a necessity for the long-term survival of society. With the conversion of our power plant at the company's headquarters in Oberkirch, we are making a major contribution to climate neutrality for us as a company, but also for Germany." The conversion of the power plant to biomass saves over 150,000 tonnes of CO2 annually at the Oberkirch site and is a further step towards achieving the goals of Koehler's climate strategy.
More than 70 million euros are invested sustainably
In order to generate the energy for the production of various special papers in Oberkirch from biomass in the future, the Koehler Group is investing over 70 million euros. The existing power plant, which was built in 1986, is being adapted to the new fuel with various conversion measures. In addition, two receiving points for unloading the lorries and corresponding silos for storage will be built. In future, Koehler will use wood chips, green cuttings and sawmill residues as fuel. The advantage of biomass, apart from its CO2 neutrality, is the good availability of the fuel. Only natural wood from the region is used. Through short distances, the Koehler Group will additionally reduce its CO2 footprint.
Oberkirch location is secured in the long term
The conversion to biomass is also an important step towards securing the Oberkirch site. More than 1,000 jobs here depend on a sustainable orientation of the company. There are limits to the size of the site due to its location. Therefore, converting the existing power plant was the best option for climate-friendly production. The conversion of the power plant is also accompanied by the expansion of the so-called cold reserve, which can be activated in the event of a power plant shutdown.
Firing with biomass requires far more maintenance work than in the past and therefore causes standstills. The efficiency of biomass is also not as good as that of hard coal. However, the larger cold reserve, which in future will be operated with natural gas instead of fuel oil, will also ensure a smooth production process here. In the long term, the Koehler Group will operate more cost-effectively with biomass as an energy carrier than before. There are even plans for grid-parallel operation, in which surpluses of green electricity will be fed into the public grid.
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