Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport is preparing for the heating period in winter 2022/2023 with the expansion of the environmentally friendly use of district heating.
The waiting area, the baggage claim hall, the operations building and parts of hangar 1 will be connected to the district heating network. As a result, the annual average reduction in natural gas requirements is a further 1.200.00 kWh, as reported by the airport in a press release.
With a view to sustainability and security of supply, the airport began purchasing district heating from a biogas plant from Bioenergie Ahden GmbH & Co. KG as early as 2006. In the first step, parts of the terminal were connected, which since then has been supplied by fermenting leftovers and then converting biomethane gas into electricity. On an annual average, the airport currently takes around 500.000 kWh from Bioenergie Ahden GmbH & Co. KG and thus covers around 17,5 percent of its annual total heat requirement of 2.900.000 kWh. If you add the current expansion, in the future 60 percent of the heat requirement will be covered by green district heating.
"There are only winners in this project. We are reducing the burden on the environment by more than 300 tons of CO2 equivalent, which is another big step towards CO2 neutrality at the airport. The renewably generated district heating is also significantly cheaper than natural gas and its costs are calculable. The regionalization of energy procurement also strengthens our security of supply," emphasises airport managing director Roland Hüser.