Germany’s largest solar thermal plant by far has officially gone into operation in Leipzig. With this solar cogeneration plant, the municipal utility of the “City of Trade Fairs” aims to feed carbon-dioxide-free heat directly into the district heating network in the future. The project aims to demonstrate the role solar thermal energy can play in municipal heating networks in the future.
The new, massive plant in the Lausen district is intended to make Leipzig’s district heating greener. To date, district heating across Germany has been generated almost exclusively from natural gas. That is set to change, with fossil fuels increasingly being replaced by renewable energy sources. In Leipzig, the goal is to provide residents with “climate-neutral” district heating by 2038. The plant was originally scheduled to go into operation in May of this year.
