Joint press release January 8, 2025
Iqony gets innovative heat source up and running
Waste heat from mine water from RAG’s Camphausen plant will heat the towns of Quierschied and Sulzbach in future
Sulzbach/Quierschied/Saarbrücken. After just over a year of construction, Saarbrücken-based Iqony Energies GmbH commissioned a smart combined heat and power plant on the site of the former Camphausen mine at the end of December 2024, which harnesses the waste heat from the mine water to supply district heating. This will avoid around 6,300 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
“With the plant now officially in operation, we are taking another major step towards our ambitious goal of achieving complete climate neutrality in the district heating supply by 2040,” explained Anke Langner, Spokeswoman of the Management Board of Iqony Energies, at the ceremonial commissioning of the plant in the presence of Jürgen Barke, the Saarland Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Minister President and the mayors of Sulzbach and Quierschied Michael Adam and Lutz Maurer.
“We are very pleased to be able to support the heat transition in Sulzbach with our mine water,” said Joachim Löchte, Head of Sustainability and Communication at RAG. “The geothermal use of mine water is also being examined at all other RAG mine water sites,” Joachim Löchte continued.
Visible sign of successful structural change
In his welcoming address, Minister of Economic Affairs Jürgen Barke spoke about the logical link between the mining industry’s past and the innovative, forward-looking prospects of the project. “In future, the district heating supply will use waste heat from the mine water, saving valuable energy resources. This is an important step forward in the transformation of the energy system along the Saar and shows that the energy transition and structural change are two sides of the same coin.”
Sulzbach’s mayor Michael Adam explained: “The heating of public buildings and private households with innovative district heating from Camphausen represents a forward-looking component of the supply situation for the town of Sulzbach. A future technology that uses heat from the ground is an important topic for Sulzbach that should be pursued intensively.”
Technical background
In technical terms, the project consists of three coordinated components: a conventional CHP plant, the renewable heat source in the form of mine water and a heat pump that utilizes the residual heat of around 36 degrees contained in the mine water for the district heating supply. Because the third part of the plant, the conventional CHP plant, is also fired by an energy source classified as climate-neutral, the plant as a whole is already completely emission-free.
The fuel used is mine gas containing methane. If it is released into the atmosphere unburned, it is more than twenty times more harmful to the climate than CO2. “That’s why it makes sense from a climate perspective to burn mine gas as a fuel, because it massively reduces the impact on the climate,” says Dr. Dietmar Bies, who was responsible for the project at Iqony.
With a view to a possible expansion of the district heating supply in the municipalities supplied, Anke Langner clarified: “From a technical point of view, our plant in Camphausen still has capacity reserves to cover a higher heat demand.”
District heating as a strategic field of business
From Iqony’s point of view, the successfully completed project underlines the fundamental importance of the district heating business segment for the company: “District heating and the corresponding cooperation with municipal partners are cornerstones of our corporate strategy,” says Nicole Hildebrand, COO of the Steag Iqony Group.
