District Heating Agreement: Ørsted Utilises Surplus Heat From CCS Process For Supply in The Copenhagen Area
Fredericia, Denmark - The energy company Ørsted has reached an agreement with the Danish district heating companies VEKS and CTR on the utilisation of surplus heat from the carbon capture process at the Avedøre Power Station site. The heat generated will be used to supply up to 16,000 Danish households in the greater Copenhagen area with district heating.
Once the carbon capture facility is commissioned, which is planned for 2026, large quantities of surplus heat will be generated that can be used to provide district heating for the greater Copenhagen area.
"We’re constantly looking into opportunities for providing green and competitive district heating, and I’m pleased that we’ve made an agreement with our heat customers to utilise the surplus heat from our future carbon capture plant," says Ole Thomsen, Senior Vice President and Head of Bioenergy, welcoming the district heating plans.
The energy required to capture carbon comes from the power plant's own straw plant and is therefore renewable energy. With the help of a heat pump, the surplus heat from the CCS process and flue gas condensation can be processed into district heating, so that the same energy is utilised twice. This will result in more environmentally friendly district heating for the greater Copenhagen area and significantly lower energy consumption for the CO2 capture process, says Ørsted.
"This agreement is a very important and tangible step in VEKS’s transformation to the green technologies of the future. It’s a good example why district heating is an important part of sector coupling while also being green, reliable, and sensibly priced. We look forward to the negotiations for a long-term agreement on the surplus heat from the plant," emphasises Steen Christiansen, Chairman of VEKS.
"The district heating supply of the future will consist of many different heat sources, which collectively can help us continue to provide district heating at an attractive price," adds CTR Chairman Line Barfod.
The agreement between VEKS, CTR and Ørsted is valid for the period 2024-2027, after which it will be renegotiated to reach a long-term agreement for the surplus heat from the carbon capture plant.
Ørsted is in the process of building another carbon capture plant in Denmark at the Asnæs power plant in Kalundborg and is working with local heat and steam customers on a similar solution based on the utilisation of excess heat in Kalundborg.
After four days of trading this week, the Ørsted share is up 2.9 per cent at EUR 52.42 on Thursday evening (closing price, 1 February 2024, Stuttgart Stock Exchange).
Source: IWR Online, 02 Feb 2024
