BMW Group Plant Steyr is transitioning entirely to district heating, utilizing heat from a nearby biomass plant. Milan Nedeljković, a board member for production at BMW AG, and actor/politician Arnold Schwarzenegger officially inaugurated the new power supply. This shift in energy sources is part of BMW Group’s ongoing efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.
Nedeljković stated, “We are optimizing the carbon footprint of all our production facilities globally by leveraging innovative technologies and local resources to generate energy from fossil fuel-free sources. Today, we are achieving a significant milestone here in Steyr.” The plant consumes around 250 gigawatt hours of energy annually, enough to power about 59,000 homes. Energy consumption has steadily decreased over recent years; plant director Klaus von Moltke noted, “Since 2006, we have nearly halved the energy used per engine.”
Heat supply is crucial to this reduction. The facility connected to the district heating grid in 2012 and has since undergone several expansions. The transition to fully district heating was initially planned for late 2024 but was completed two and a half months early. This switch was made possible through a strong partnership with the local biomass power plant, Fernwärme Steyr, located less than a kilometer away. The plant is managed by the state’s energy providers, Energie AG Oberösterreich Erzeugung GmbH and EVN Wärme GmbH, under their joint subsidiary, Bioenergie Steyr GmbH.
To meet the heat demands of Plant Steyr, an additional heat generation facility featuring a 10-megawatt biomass boiler is being constructed on-site. Klaus von Moltke summarized, “By transitioning to 100% heat from regenerative biomass, we are making significant progress today. Our plant now obtains both its electricity and heat for regular operations from renewable sources.”
During his keynote speech, Arnold Schwarzenegger urged everyone present to take action against climate change and subsequently shut down the plant’s gas supply. Milan Nedeljković then symbolically activated the final phase of the district heating expansion.
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