Hamburg buys four Johnson Controls heat pumps for major wastewater heating project

As part of a collaborative project between HAMBURG WASSER (Hamburg Water) and Hamburg Energiewerke (Hamburg Energy), Johnson Controls will equip Hamburg's central wastewater treatment plant, located in Dradenau, with a new pump system heat which will save approximately 66.000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The engineering has just started and the heat pumps should allow the city to create heat without fossil fuels from 2025.

Under the agreement, Johnson Controls will install four heat pumps of 15 MW each to supply more than 39.000 homes with heat. Instead of using fossil fuels, these heat pumps will harness the heat from the treated wastewater in the sewage treatment plant, feeding it into Hamburg Energie's central district heating system. This system is part of the heating network of the city port's energy park, known as Energiepark Hafen. This project is one of the first of this scale in Germany.

For Tomas Brannemo, President of Johnson Controls, EMEALA: “The electrification of heating and cooling systems is a crucial step to ensure the energy transition and achieve the decarbonization targets of the Paris Agreement. Heat pumps play a vital role in harnessing untapped renewable heating sources, paving the way for a more integrated and sustainable energy system. As a leader in building technology, Johnson Controls is proud to have been chosen for this project and is delighted to support Hamburg in its journey towards carbon neutrality. This project will become a benchmark for ecological heating in Europe. »

Ingo Hannemann, CTO and spokesperson for the Board of Directors of HAMBURG WASSER, highlights the importance of wastewater as a valuable resource, which has long been used for climate-friendly energy generation, and whose potential continues to be operated.

For Ingo Hannemann, CTO and spokesperson for the Board of Directors of HAMBURG WASSER: “The residual heat contained in the treated wastewater is recovered by heat pumps and then fed into the district heating network as usable heat. I am proud to be able to contribute in this way to the port energy park and to be able to act as a partner for the city, starting a project that will supply Hamburg with heat from renewable sources. »

Christian Heine, spokesman for the management of Hamburger Energiewerke, underlined Hamburg's future orientation towards a modular energy system for its heat supply.

For Christian Heine, spokesman for the management of Hamburger Energiewerke: “Most of the climate-neutral heat would be produced in the city's port energy park, using industrial processes, waste recycling and the HAMBURG WASSER sewage treatment plant. Hamburg's waste water heating project is a concrete example of a successful thermal transition, thanks to the consistent use of local energy sources and state-of-the-art technologies. »

The heat pumps will be supplied by the Johnson Controls factory located in Nantes, France. This site is one of the company's main manufacturing centers for large-scale refrigeration equipment and heat pumps for the EMEA region.

Johnson Controls has a long history in the field of heat pumps, with over 50 years of expertise in the use of sustainable refrigerants in various temperature ranges. A pioneer in the marketing of ecological heat pumps since 1982, the company now offers the most comprehensive portfolio of technologies and refrigerants in Europe.

Besides the project with Hamburg Water, Johnson Controls also supplies similar heat pumps to utility companies such as EnBW Stuttgart, Stadtwerke Rosenheim and Vienna Energy.