Porsche has launched two new cogeneration plants in operation in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, to enhance its environmentally friendly energy mix and close the remaining gap to CO2 neutral production of the fully electric Taycan in Zuffenhausen, a production site with a long history. The heat and power plants, each of which has an output of around two megawatts, run exclusively on biogas and residual products produced from organic waste.
In contrast to conventional power plants, cogeneration plants are used to generate heat and power in parallel. They do not emit the heat generated as part of energy production into the environment, but use it for heating. Their efficiency can be maximised by operating them close to the area in which heat is constantly required: such as close to the paint shop, its immersion baths and drying areas, for example, where steady process heat is needed. Approximately 90 percent of the heat generated will be used to heat and provide hot water for the office and production buildings at the Porsche Zuffenhausen site, where almost 12,000 people work.
“The new cogeneration plants have a total efficiency of over 83 percent,” explains Stephan Hartmann, who works in the Environmental and Energy Management division at Porsche.
The two new cogeneration plants will complement the heat and power generation solution already in place at the site, for which Porsche has used two natural gas plants to date. These plants will also be switched to biogas. In addition, Porsche in Stuttgart is on track to use bioenergy from the city’s organic waste plant as soon as the City of Stuttgart commissions the plant in 2021.
The expansion of the cogeneration plants at the Porsche site in Zuffenhausen is taking place alongside the development of production for the Taycan – the first fully electric Porsche. The four-door electric sports car will be launched on the market at the end of 2019 and will be produced as part of a CO2-neutral process at the Zuffenhausen site.
“Our objective is not merely to produce a CO2-neutral zero-emissions car, but rather to ensure that we do not leave any environmental footprint at all. To this end, we are pursing the vision of a ‘zero-impact factory’. The new cogeneration plants are an important step in the right direction,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche.