After expanding renewable energies in the electricity sector, the eastern German energy supplier EnviaM now also wants to push ahead with the heating transition. The transition is clearly lagging behind there. According to the company, renewables now account for more than half (55 percent) of EnviaM's electricity generation, but only 19 percent of its heat generation.
The aim is to make the company's own heat supply greener, said CEO Patrick Kather. To this end, at least eight conventional district heating plants are to be converted to renewable fuels - such as the Vetschau heating plant in southern Brandenburg. In future, wood chips are to replace pulverized lignite as a fuel. The conversion will reportedly begin this year. There are also plans to use waste heat from data centers, for example in Taucha (district of North Saxony).
Investments of more than 50 million euros are planned for the expansion in the coming years. One sticking point is that green heat from new plants is currently more expensive than heat generated from gas or oil, said Kather.
