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Sustainable heat for Chemnitz: HoSt secures long-term heat-as-a-service contract with Eins Energie

3 February 2025
HoSt Energy Systems, part of HoSt Group, has signed a 20-year contract with Eins Energie in sachsen GmbH & Co KG (hereinafter referred to as Eins Energie), a major German energy supply company, to supply heat from renewable energy sources to Chemnitz's district heating network. At the centre of this partnership is HoSt's 31 MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant, which will supply heat generated from EEG-compliant biomass to the district heating network of Chemnitz, Germany. The electricity generated will be fed into the public grid.

Renewable heat

This agreement supports Eins Energie’s plan to considerably increase the proportion of renewable heat for the city of Chemnitz. With Eins Energie as the region’s leading utility company, the project is committed to setting a benchmark for sustainable district heating systems worldwide.

Sustainable energy technology

The CHP plant, which is equipped with an extensive exhaust gas purification system, ensures that NOx emissions are less than 1/3 of the already low legal limits. The significantly better internally agreed emission values of the plant, which for the aforementioned NOx, for example, are only 60 mg/Nm³ compared to the legal limit of 200 mg/Nm³, were one of the criteria for awarding the contract to HoSt in a competitive tendering process.

The biomass cogeneration plant will be equipped with a continuous emission measurement system in accordance with the German law of Ordinance on medium-sized combustion plants: 44th BImSchV.

Promoting sustainability on site

The plant is operated with EEG-compliant, the German “Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz” or Renewable Energy Sources Act, biomass in the form of untreated wood from forest residues, shredded material from landscape conservation or street wood cuttings. 90 percent of this comes from a maximum radius of 250 kilometres around Chemnitz. To ensure EEG-compliant fuel procurement, the operator must carry out complete and transparent quality and origin documentation and have this confirmed by an independent environmental auditor through annual certification.

“Our ‘Heat as a Service’ model supports Eins Energie in its endeavours to generate 100% renewable district heating by 2045, with the new power plant generating around 10% of district heating from renewable, predominantly regional resources,” says Jesse Buiteveld, Business Development Manager at HoSt.

“As we are both the client and operator of the plant, we can utilise our expertise to ensure extremely cost-efficient operation and therefore an attractive heat price. This partnership is an example of how modern energy systems can fulfil today’s requirements for sustainability, efficiency and reliability.”

Artist impression of the 31 MW CHP plant in Chemnitz

“This partnership is an example of how modern energy systems can fulfil today's requirements for sustainability, efficiency and reliability.”
Jesse Buiteveld, Business Development Manager at HoSt