Brno and Vienna exchange green energy expertise at Simmering power plant

On 19 September 2023, a delegation of experts from Teplárny Brno and political decision-makers met at the Simmering power plant in Vienna to exchange expertise on heat pumps and biomass heating systems.

Teplárny Brno is the electricity supply utility of the Moravian capital, comparable to Wien Energie GmbH in Vienna. Brno is currently building a wood chip powered steam biomass boiler on one of the Teplárny Brno sites, and is planning a large heat pump that will use excess heat from local wastewater. Given that Vienna already uses a large-scale heat pump and a biomass boiler, the experts from Moravia came to the Austrian capital to get practical information on the technology in Simmering.

After starting with a general presentation on the Simmering power plant, the meeting focused on the details of biomass and large-scale heat pumps. Vienna has committed to the target of CO₂ neutrality by 2040, and intends to increasingly harness geothermal energy in this process. A test drilling operation by Wien Energie has revealed a huge natural thermal water deposit 3,500 metres below ground – a major step towards both CO₂ neutrality and supply security. Work is currently underway on the first deep geothermal plant for Vienna, scheduled to go operational by 2026.

Following the expert talks, the delegation had the opportunity to take a close look at the large-scale heat pump and the biomass facility. The participants from both cities agreed to maintain a regular exchange on the topics and projects in question.

A large high-performance heat pump for Vienna

Large-scale heat pumps can make a key contribution to achieving climate targets. In the Austrian capital, their operation has already been in full swing since 2019, when one of Europe's most powerful large heat pumps started generating climate-neutral energy for local households in Simmering. Based on a decision taken in 2022, a second plant in Simmering will produce enough heat for up to 112,000 households from 2027. A large-scale heat pump like the one planned for Brno usually uses ambient heat or cooling water from power plants to deliver district heat.

Biomass - an unlimited raw material

Biomass power plants, in turn, generate energy by burning wood products - such as wood chips, which will also fuel the new steam biomass boiler in Brno. This allows for clean energy production because the amount of CO₂ produced during combustion is no higher than the amount previously absorbed by the plants. At the same time, biomass is an unlimited source of renewable energy because the wood is extracted from forests without damaging the forest ecosystem in the process. The wood chips used in Wien Energie's Simmering forest biomass power plant, for example, are an automatic by-product of forestry. They generate green electricity for 48,000 households, and enough district heat for 12,000 households in Vienna.