The energy transition poses major challenges for municipal utilities: They must integrate renewable, volatile energy sources, replace fossil fuel-based power generation, ensure security of supply, and at the same time guarantee competitive prices for end customers. Stadtwerke Cottbus demonstrates how this transformation can be successfully achieved and how it intelligently and efficiently utilizes its available flexibility to do so.
With the mandate to decommission conventional coal-fired power plants, Stadtwerke Cottbus faces the challenge of finding new ways to provide heat and electricity. The solution: a modern combined heat and power (CHP) plant consisting of five gas engines, each with an electrical and thermal output of 10 megawatts (MW). These engines are primarily used for heat generation, while electricity is produced simultaneously through combined heat and power generation. The heat previously sourced from the Jänschwalde lignite-fired power plant (LEAG) will in the future be replaced by innovative river and lake water heat pumps that utilize energy from the Spree River and the reclaimed open-pit mine lake.
Flexibility Is Key | Working with ESFORIN
To optimize electricity production economically, Stadtwerke Cottbus relies on flexibility trading with ESFORIN. The challenge: The plant must be operated on a heat-driven basis, but potential electricity revenues must not jeopardize heat supply commitments. However, thanks to the ability to temporarily store heat in a pressurized water thermal storage tank, the innovative CHP process can be „unbundled“ retrospectively, allowing for a highly flexible response to price signals.
Flexibility is marketed through the wholesale and intraday markets. ESFORIN develops customer-specific algorithms that take into account the plant’s obligations, restrictions, and specific characteristics, in close coordination with Stadtwerke Cottbus. This process relies not only on artificial intelligence but also on the extensive expertise and experience of the employees involved. The collaboration thrives on the exchange of ideas, suggestions, and solutions that drive optimization forward.
Marketing strategies are discussed and optimized in regular meetings to tap into further potential. Since Stadtwerke Cottbus knows its facility best, joint ideas can be used to further increase and market its flexibility. The algorithm is continuously customized and optimized—a process of mutual inspiration, trial and error, and testing that leads to ever-greater successes in terms of flexibility revenues, energy costs, security of supply, and CO2-savings.
