Germany's Peter Greven Receives Funding for Steam Electrification, Reducing Emissions by 78%

en.Wedoany.com Reported - German chemical manufacturer Peter Greven will implement its largest sustainable transformation project to date at its headquarters in Bad Münstereifel, aiming to electrify steam production by the end of 2028. The project is funded under the Federal Industrial and Climate Protection Funding Program (BIK) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE).

In the chemical industry, steam is one of the most important energy carriers, used in various production and process steps. Currently, process steam is typically generated by fossil fuel boilers, accounting for a significant share of total energy consumption, while also serving as a key lever for reducing CO₂ emissions in production.

Last year, the company submitted a project concept to the BIK funding competition initiated by the BMWE, focusing on producing process steam on demand using fluctuating photovoltaic electricity. The concept won the competition, and the company is now working on technical details.

The project aims to replace the current natural gas-fired steam boilers with a combined system consisting of an electrically efficient heater, a high-temperature thermal energy storage, and a downstream steam generator. Most of the green electricity required for the project will come from a nearby photovoltaic facility. The planned new system enables temporal decoupling of energy procurement and steam production using stored thermal energy, allowing electricity procurement to adapt to the fluctuating supply of renewable energy, helping to avoid grid overload and maintain grid frequency stability.

While this facility brings advantages for future energy systems with fluctuating energy supply, it will also make a significant contribution to decarbonizing the production site: by switching steam production from natural gas to green electricity, CO₂ emissions are expected to be reduced by up to 78%.