STEAG Group

The path to a climate-neutral heating supply in Constance/Germany is picking up speed: The municipal council has given the green light for the establishment of a joint project company between Stadtwerke Konstanz, Constance, and Iqony Energies GmbH, Saarbrücken/Germany. The company, which is part of the Steag Iqony Group, Essen/Germany, works with local authorities and municipal utilities to implement and operate sustainable heating networks (Figure 1) – currently at 25 locations across Germany, with more in the pipeline.

The new company, named “Wärmeversorgung Bodensee-Therme GmbH”, is to implement the first heating network in the city of Constance in the area around the Bodensee-Therme – almost entirely based on renewable environmental heat from Lake Constance, supported by modern large heat pumps. “Together with Stadtwerke Konstanz, we will ensure that the transformation to renewable heat supply is as efficient as possible,” says Andreas Loh, Managing Director of Iqony Energies. “In the coming years, the transition to a climate-neutral heat supply will be one of the biggest challenges for local authorities in terms of planning, but also financially – we are a reliable partner for new district heating projects throughout Germany. ”

The project planned in Constance is a central component of local municipal heating planning. “In Iqony Energies, we have gained an experienced partner who will support us not only professionally but also strategically in the implementation of this forward-looking project,” emphasizes Stadtwerke Managing Director Gordon Appel. Around 80 % of the heat requirement in the planned supply area is accounted for by the Bodensee-Therme, the Kliniken Schmieder and the KWA Parkstift Rosenau. A total of around 14 GWh of heat is to be provided in a climate-friendly manner – enough to meet the heating requirements for space heating and hot water of around 1,000 apartments or single-family homes with a living space of 100 m². An EU and BMWK-funded feasibility study confirmed the viability of the project in 2024 and the project company is equally owned by Stadtwerke Konstanz and Iqony Energies.

Subject to the further course of the project, construction of the heating network is scheduled to begin in 2028. The company is to be formally established by the end of 2025. (Iqony/Si.)

Christoph Dollhausen, previously head of communications at the STEAG subsidiary Iqony, took over as head of communications for the energy group STEAG, Essen/Germany, on 1st October 2024 (Figure 1). In his new position, he will be responsible for the newly created division for communication and marketing, which includes both internal and external communication as well as stakeholder management. His team will comprise a total of ten employees. Dollhausen will succeed Markus Hennes, who, after more than seven years as STEAG’s Group Spokesman, is now looking forward to a well-deserved retirement.

Dollhausen has been working for STEAG since 2015. As Head of Marketing, he was responsible for the development and launch of the Iqony brand in 2022 for the green growth sector with a focus on energy from renewable sources. He also managed internal and external communications in connection with the takeover by the Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion.

“I am very much looking forward to working with my team to further enhance the perception of STEAG and Iqony as key players in the German and European energy industry,” says Dollhausen. “One of our most important goals is to communicate the transformation of our company in a comprehensible way, highlighting our contribution to the success of the energy transition and security of supply, while at the same time strengthening the trust of all stakeholders.”

Andreas Reichel, Chairman of the Board of Management and Labor Director of STEAG and Iqony, says: “In an industry which is undergoing change like no other, communication is one of the most important tasks. I am pleased that in Christoph Dollhausen we have found someone for this responsible position who is familiar with the challenges of the energy business and has already actively shaped the development of our company for almost ten years.”

At the same time, he thanked Hennes for his work: “Markus Hennes has been responsible for STEAG’s communications at a time that has been characterized by major, far-reaching changes for the company itself, as well as for the industry as a whole. He deserves our thanks for keeping STEAG on course in terms of communications under challenging circumstances such as the coal phase-out, to name but one example.”

STEAG has strategically realigned itself in recent years by focusing on renewables. The group employs around 5,300 people worldwide, with some 2,600 working at Iqony. (STEAG/Si.)

From 2026, the “Steady Green Energy” battery storage system will make Deutsche Bahn’s power supply even more flexible and greener (Figure 1). To this end, the group subsidiary DB Energie and the energy company Iqony GmbH, Essen/Germany, have concluded a Power Storage Agreement (PSA). Both companies agreed on a contract under which DB Energie will use 35 MW of the approximately 50 MW battery storage system for five years. The plant will be built at the Duisburg-Walsum power plant site of the Steag Iqony Group and is expected to go into operation in May 2026. In the future, it will help to enable the further integration of renewables such as wind and solar energy, thus addressing one of the biggest challenges of the energy transition.

“It is a four-hour storage system that can store a total of around 200 MWh of green electricity and provide it as needed,” explains Christian Karalis, co-head of Business Development and responsible for the battery storage project at Iqony. With this facility, Iqony is a pioneer in Germany and also one of the first movers in Europe: “Iqony offers partners with customised Power Storage Agreements (PSA) the opportunity for the first time to contract storage capacity for their portfolio without having to own the assets themselves. We are also responding to the emerging demand for longer storage periods, which are particularly aimed at optimising green portfolios. Typically, storage in the German market currently only has two hours of capacity,” says Karalis. In the future, Iqony also has battery storage projects in preparation at other power plant sites of the Steag Iqony Group.

“Deutsche Bahn will be carbon neutral by 2040. A key lever in achieving this is to increase the share of renewable energies in rail power. This is currently 68 %. But trains also have to run when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. Iqony’s battery storage system can store surplus electricity from renewables and feed it into the grid when needed. With our share of 140 MWh, electricity for around 3 M km travelled by the ICE can be stored each year. This flexibly usable storage system helps DB to make the power supply for the railways even more sustainable and is another important step on the road to a climate-neutral DB, thus contributing to the implementation of the energy transition throughout Germany,” says Florian Reuter, CEO of DB Energie.

The project is not only innovative in technical terms, but the agreement concluded between the partners as a whole is also forward-looking. Until now, companies had to construct and operate battery storage systems themselves and also bear the financial risks. The PSA as a new contractual construct allows the competencies and needs of the participating companies to be utilised to the mutual advantage of both sides. The market for battery storage is currently in the ramp-up phase but will play an important role in DB’s energy supply in the coming years. “As with our previous green power purchase agreements, I am pleased that DB Energie is now also helping to advance the urgently needed expansion of battery storage in Germany with its commitment,” says Reuter.

“As the leading provider of large-scale battery storage in Germany, we are very pleased about the cooperation with Iqony and about the forward-looking use of the storage facility by DB Energie,” says Markus Meyer, managing director of Fluence Energy GmbH. (Iqony/Si.)

On 20th September 2024, the members of the STEAG Group’s works councils met at the former Zollverein colliery in Essen/Germany. In addition to Gerhard Grabmeier, Chairman of the General Works Council, and the directors Andreas Reichel and Ralf Schiele, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Economic Affairs and Deputy Minister-President, Mona Neubaur, delivered a speech as a guest of honor (Figure 1).

The venue for the conference, the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, was a clever choice, as it was symbolic of the event: on the surface, Zollverein represents the Ruhr area’s mining and industrial past, but it has since become a symbol of the region’s successful structural transformation. Likewise, the STEAG Group, Essen, has successfully broken new ground and implemented its own transformation after its strategic realignment at the beginning of 2023.

In his report, Reichel, CEO and Labor Director of STEAG and Iqony, outlined the topics and projects on which the group will focus in the future in order to successfully position the company and the Group as a whole in the long term: “We want to grow in the field of renewables by investing in our own generation capacities. We want to invest in battery electricity storage systems that make an important contribution to the success of the energy transition by improving the integration of energy from renewable sources in the grid and the market. We want to produce green hydrogen in the Ruhr and Saar regions, which will help regional industry to make its own processes and products climate-neutral. And we want to invest in new and, thanks to hydrogen, potentially climate-neutral gas-fired power plants that will enable us to ensure a secure and zero-emission energy supply in the future.”

The change of ownership at the turn of the year 2024 is also responsible for the STEAG Group’s opportunity to properly tackle these issues through its subsidiary Iqony. “While our previous owners lacked the financial strength to develop the company strategically and in a value-enhancing manner, the framework conditions have improved significantly under the new ownership of the Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion Industrial Partners,” said Grabmeier in his introduction.

In her speech to around 120 employee representatives, Economics Minister Neubaur also addressed these future prospects. With a view to forward-looking projects, the minister emphasized STEAG’s outstanding importance for a successful energy and heating transition, particularly in North Rhine-Westphalia: “North Rhine-Westphalia has the ambition and the ability to become the first climate-neutral industrial region in Europe. This can only be achieved on the basis of a climate-neutral and competitive energy system. That is why we are focusing on hydrogen and doing everything we can to create the best possible conditions to make the development of the hydrogen economy in the Rhine and Ruhr regions a success. The projects that Iqony is preparing, particularly in the Ruhr area, are important building blocks in this process.”

In fact, there is a great deal of overlap between the recently presented energy and heating strategy of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the projects currently being undertaken by STEAG and Iqony: “In addition to the hydrogen and power plant topics, this applies in particular to district heating, where we are already working intensively in the Ruhr and Saar regions to make our heating climate-neutral. As a company, we want to become climate-neutral earlier than the targets set by the German government and the EU, i.e. by 2040,” says Reichel.

One possible contribution to achieving this goal while at the same time ensuring security of supply could be to convert STEAG’s last coal-fired power plant operating under market conditions. “The recently launched consultation procedure on the German government’s planned Power Plant Security Act (KWSG) has opened the debate on which power plants are suitable for such a fuel switch. Converting our Duisburg power plant Walsum 10 to natural gas and, in the future, hydrogen would be considerably cheaper than building completely new plants and would also contribute to the goal of an early phase-out of coal,” Reichel explains.

Schiele, COO of STEAG and also CEO and COO of Iqony, also reported on a number of other projects that similarly correspond to the strategic focus of the state government. “We are investing in particular in the expansion of district heating and are consistently working on a decarbonized heat supply, e. g. with the district heating storage facility currently under construction in Gelsenkirchen. This also applies to the Saarland, where pioneering projects are currently being implemented in Völklingen-Fenne, Homburg and Camp­hausen.”

The in-house projects are complemented by several major collaborations with municipal partners who draw on Iqony’s expertise to implement their strategies and achieve climate targets: “This involves supporting the heating transition in several municipalities across Germany. Contracts to this effect have already been signed with Enwor, a local utility in Herzogenrath, North Rhine-Westphalia. We are in advanced talks with other municipal utilities,” says Schiele. In this respect, Iqony is in many ways an important enabler of the energy and heating transition in Germany.

Speaking for the employee representatives, Grabmeier made it clear that they fundamentally support the course the company has embarked on. “We also believe that the strategic goals have been set correctly. They open up prospects for the future and thus for job security for our colleagues. In this respect, we will gladly support the company on its further journey, but of course we will be particularly involved where this is necessary, given our role as representatives of the employees’ interests.” (STEAG/Si.)

The STEAG Group, Essen/Germany, presented its Sustainability Report for 2023. In it, the company gives an account of its activities in the areas of climate and environmental protection, social and societal responsibility, good corporate governance and an appreciative corporate culture. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as developed by the United Nations in 2015, form the frame of reference for the sustainability report. They reflect the STEAG Group’s activities in the three fields of action “Environmental”, “Social” and “Governance”.

Measured against these, the STEAG Group’s activities contribute in particular to achieving SDG 3 (“Good health and well-being”), SDG 7 (“Affordable and clean energy”), SDG 8 (“Decent work and economic growth”), SDG 9 (“Industry, innovation and infrastructure”), SDG 11 (“Sustainable cities and communities”), SDG 12 (“Responsible consumption and production”), SDG 13 (“Climate action”) and SDG 15 (“Life on land”).

Specifically, this involves measures to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for all employees, respect for employee and human rights across the entire supply chain, measures to ensure security of supply, investments in renewable energy (Figure 1), support for the decarbonization efforts of third parties, whether they be industrial companies or local authorities, promotion of the heat transition, particularly in cooperation with municipal partners, development and implementation of a climate neutrality pathway for the STEAG Group itself and the ongoing mitigation of unavoidable environmental impacts.

With a view to the core energy business, Andreas Reichel, CEO and Labor Director of STEAG and Iqony, summarizes the Group’s position as follows: “We see ourselves as facilitators of a successful energy and heat transition while at the same time maintaining a secure energy supply – symbolized by the planned gas-fired power plants with hydrogen capability at our existing power plant sites in the Ruhr and Saar regions. In future, they will always be available when the yield from wind and solar energy is not sufficient to guarantee our electricity supply.” Particularly in view of the coal phase-out that has been enshrined in law since 2020, it should be borne in mind that this can only be achieved with security of supply if these new plants are actually built.

In this respect, STEAG has once again reaffirmed the company’s existing climate protection targets in the Sustainability Report for 2023 that has now been published: In addition to the STEAG Group’s goal of complete climate neutrality by 2040 at the latest, these include above all STEAG’s planned phase-out of coal-fired power generation in Germany before the end of this decade.

“In this context, we also have to talk about the system relevance of currently five STEAG power plant units. These continue to serve to stabilize the grid and system and we are required to keep the plants in permanent operational readiness until further notice,” says Reichel. “Even if these plants no longer actively participate in the electricity market, we cannot speak of an actual coal phase-out in the absence of a firm and binding date for final decommissioning.”

However, there is only a prospect of security of supply in the future, success in climate protection and reliable career prospects for STEAG and Iqony employees if the power plant and hydrogen projects currently planned by STEAG and Iqony are given a chance to be implemented.

“Without domestic hydrogen production, there will be no reliable decarbonization of domestic industry and no security in terms of employment prospects. And without new and climate-neutral gas-fired power plants in the future, there will be no long-term security of supply in Germany, but rather rising energy prices and a further loss of international competitiveness for our economy,” Reichel continued.

STEAG is ready to tackle the planned future projects in the industrial regions of the Ruhr and Saar if the regulatory framework conditions are right. In addition, however, it also needs sufficiently motivated and qualified personnel to achieve its ambitious goals: “STEAG is recognized as an employer that cares intensively about the interests and well-being of its employees. In times of an increasing shortage of skilled workers, this issue has become even more important,” emphasizes Reichel in his role as Labor Director.

Consequently, STEAG has again made numerous offers of preventive health care and personal and professional development in 2023 and intensified the recruitment of young skilled workers. “At STEAG, our qualified employees have always been the company’s most important asset. It is therefore a matter of course for us to invest in the health and therefore also the continued working capacity of our team,” Reichel adds. (STEAG/Si.)

Iqony GmbH, Essen/Germany, the green growth division of the Essen-based STEAG Group, is merging its solar and wind business into a joint business unit. The subsidiary, under whose umbrella both business areas will be bundled in future, has been operating as Iqony Sustainable Energy Solutions GmbH (Iqony Sens) since 30th May 2024 (Figure 1).

“The integration of the two previous business units into a single, even more efficient and powerful unit is a decisive step for us on our way from project developer to one of the leading European producers of renewable energy,” explains Andreas Reichel, CEO and Labour Director of STEAG and Iqony. Under the leadership of the two Managing Directors André Kremer and Joël Wagner, Iqony Sens will realise synergies along the entire value chain of onshore wind and large-scale photovoltaic (PV).

The business of the new business unit is based on two pillars: Project development and management are bundled in the IPP (Independent Power Producer) division. The electricity, which will be increasingly self-generated in future, will then be marketed via the Group’s own Iqony trading division. The EPC and O&M (Engineering, Procurement, Construction plus Operations & Maintenance) division comprises the construction and maintenance of plants in the wind and PV sectors.

“So far, we have been a valued partner primarily for the development, EPC and O&M services of individual PV systems,” says Kremer. “In future, we will dovetail our many years of experience in the solar industry more closely with Iqony’s wind expertise and keep it within the company for the long term in the IPP sector.”

“As an Independent Power Producer, we will not only be able to provide significantly more base load-capable electricity, we are also focusing on a future in which renewable energy sources play the leading role in the global energy market,” adds Wagner.

With the integration of the two areas of solar and wind, Iqony Sens will assume the role of an integrated plant operator and energy producer in addition to its strong position as a project developer and service provider. To date, the company’s own wind and solar parks have an installed capacity of around 250 MW. Iqony is aiming to quadruple this portfolio by the end of the decade.

Iqony e. g. was recently awarded the contract for the planned Mosbach wind farm with an installed capacity of around 61 MW in the Neckar-Odenwald district of Baden-Württemberg. Iqony’s many years of experience in working closely with municipal partners and the local population to realise wind farms, as well as its attractive participation options for landowners, were convincing.

In the PV sector, the realisation of an EPC project in Wensicken­dorf recently began. This will create a PV park with an installed capacity of over 32 MWp. The expected annual generation of over 33,000 MWh will ensure structural savings of an estimated 5,500 t of CO₂e/a.

Last year, the Spanish infrastructure investor Asterion took over Iqony’s parent company STEAG. “This will enable us to accelerate the transformation of our company and invest even more heavily in our own projects in future,” says Reichel. Against this background, the integration of the wind and PV competences is a further significant milestone in the strategic realignment of the STEAG Group as a whole. (Iqony/Si.)