Many of our power plants are highly flexible, enabling them to balance out the fluctuations in renewables output and thus keep the electricity supply reliable. As wind and solar come to dominate the energy system, dispatchable capacity- particularly low- and zero-carbon capacity – will become more and more valuable. Uniper will specialize in providing it. Going forward, we will make our gas fleet, which is already impressively fuel efficient, even climate-friendlier by converting plants to run on green hydrogen or biofuels or by capturing and storing their carbon emissions.

Like mentally agile people, our power plants can do several things at once. Alongside generating electricity our thermal power plants make a range of by-products for companies and communities nearby. They also provide services that help grid operators keep the electricity supply stable.

By-products for industry and homes: The by-products of thermal power generation – steam, heat, cooling, deionized water, and compressed air – are inputs for production processes. Getting them directly from us saves nearby industrial enterprises money. And it reduces their carbon footprint, since no additional fuel has to be consumed to make them. Steam from some of our plants is also piped into district heating networks to keep homes warm. 

Grid stability services: In addition to balancing out the fluctuations in renewables output, our gas plants perform other useful roles for grid operators. Some can provide grid inertia and reactive power to maintain uniform frequency, while others can reboot the grid after an outage. Renewables are incapable of performing these tasks. So as they account for more of the power mix, our grid stability services will become even more important.