Heat and Power Industry

By the end of the 1950s the former gas, electricity and waterworks GEW Köln AG had already commenced development of its own heat and power industry. The nucleus for this was, amongst other things, the decision to build "Cologne new town" north of the city, which incorporated various suburbs including Chorweiler, Heimersdorf and Seeberg.

Instead of decentral heat generation, the city's council decided to install a high-capacity district heating supply.

At the same time, GEW decided to install this local, zero-emission energy in the heart of the city as well.

Today, RheinEnergie has four power plant sites which all work on the fuel-saving and environmentally-friendly principle of combined heat and power.
> Combined heat and power

The oldest combined heat and power plant in Cologne began its service life in 1891 as a electricity generating plant and was one of the first power plants in Germany to generate alternating current. The historical 'Jugendstil' building has now been restored to its former glory. The interior houses state-of-the-art gas turbine technology. The plant supplies electricity for the RheinEnergie network and provides the centre of Cologne with district heat.

For nearly 30 years the combined heat and power plant Cologne-Niehl I was the backbone of the district heat supply for Cologne city centre and Cologne West. Due to its exceptional reliability the natural gas-based dual system provided excellent service and supplied heat for 50% of the homes in the centre of Cologne before it was eventually decommissioned. The plant finally reached the end of its economical service life and in 2001 RheinEnergie decided to construct a completely new plant at the site in Cologne-Niehl.

"HKW Niehl II" took over from its predecessor in April 2005. The plant is based on gas and steam turbine technology and uses the world's most advanced and efficient technology. Up to 86% of the applied natural gas is actually used, resulting in positive environmental and economic effects.

The combined heat and power plant to the north of Cologne is the "central heating system" for the new town. It generates district heat for several areas of the city as well as a large part of the autonomous electricity generation. The HKW Merkenich is the only RheinEnergie plant which has a boiler unit, enabling it to use lignite granulate in addition to the main fuel natural gas. And above all it supplies heat and process steam for industrial application in the north of the city. Carmaker Ford, e.g., has its own power lines with a district heat exchanger station which lead directly to its premises. Gas and steam turbine technology is also used in Merkenich.

Despite being the smallest combined heat and power plant in Cologne, the plant in Merheim still plays a very important role: It supplies district heat to surrounding districts, such as Merheim and Neubrück, and to Klinikum Merheim. And it also generates some of the electricity used in Cologne.

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