Biomass
Obtaining energy from wood and plant residues
In Germany we are one of the three major players in the business of energy generation from wood-based biomass. Wood is a sustainable raw material: in Germany, a quantity of wood equivalent to a cube with an edge length of 1.60 meters grows again every second. However, no trees are felled specifically for our biomass-fired plants – they use wood that accumulates elsewhere.
The plants mostly use waste wood, for example wood from what were once structural elements or furniture. In addition, untreated wood residues from industry, forestry, tree care and landscape management are used. All wood-fired facilities are certified waste management operations.
Our power plants for the most part are highly efficient cogeneration plants, producing power and heat simultaneously. The heat is used in district heating networks or supplied to industries as process steam. The electricity is fed into the public grid. Owing to the CO2-neutral use of biomass our plants prevent the release of several hundred thousand tons of carbon dioxide annually.