District heating Kempten | ZAK Energie GmbH
Energy efficient and environmentally friendly
Since 2018, expansion and renewal of the district heating network of ZAK Kempten. Including their house connections.
The concept:
All of the residual waste delivered from the association’s area is sent to the waste-to-energy plant (MHKW) for thermal recycling.
Forest residues from the Allgäu forests and waste wood from the bulky waste collections at the recycling centers end up at the ZAK’s wood-fired power plant (HHKW). Approximately 37,000 tons of wood are disposed of there every year.
The electricity and heat generated in the MHKW and HHKW are put to good use. Together, the two plants generate electricity for the equivalent of about 20,400 households and heat for about 17,770 households. This corresponds to an energy saving of 31 million liters of heating oil or 31 million m³ of natural gas. The electricity is fed into the public grid.
In order to make optimum use of the energy generated, the ZAK district heating network was set up in Kempten. It currently has a length of approx. 45 km and supplies industrial and commercial enterprises, clinics and residential complexes.
Two generators in the plants together produce about 10 megawatts of electricity, which is fed into the public grid.
In order to ensure the supply of heat in the winter months as well, a peak load center with a capacity of 45 megawatts was built next to the site of the vocational school center.
Renewable energies are another focus of ZAK’s activities. For example, a large-scale photovoltaic system has been installed on the roof of the Kempten-Unterwang recycling center and on the roof of the bio-digestion plant. BioEnergie Oberallgäu (BEO), a biomass heating plant, is operated in Sonthofen with the participation of ZAK. BioEnergie Allgäu (BEA) operates a biomass heating plant in Scheidegg.
In the meantime, the ZAK with its plants and the resulting CO² savings of approx. 70,000 tons per year is the largest environmental reliever in the region. For the city of Kempten alone, this means a minus of approx. 10 percent.
