Investment in the future: Gummersbach permanently saves CO2 and operating costs thanks to ENGIE Deutschland

Cologne - Reducing their own energy consumption and thus permanently cutting operating costs - this is a challenging and urgent task facing many cities and municipalities in light of the current environmental and economic situation. In order to meet this challenge in the best possible way, the town of Gummersbach in North Rhine-Westphalia is relying on the technical expertise and comprehensive technical competence of ENGIE Deutschland. Gummersbach has entrusted the experts with a total of 17 buildings, including the town hall, two grammar schools, two secondary schools, eight elementary school, a gymnasium and two building yards. They are setting up a higher-level building management system, integrating an energy management system and are responsible for a wide range of measures for sustainable heat supply. The construction phase is already in full swing; energy-saving contracting between the energy, technology and service specialists and the city of Gummersbach will begin in summer 2025 and will last for ten years.

Michael Effertz, Head of Energy Efficiency West at ENGIE Deutschland, explains:

„With energy performance contracting, our customer can be sure that the predicted energy savings will be guaranteed over the ten-year term of the contract. And thanks to the optimized energy and building technology, the city of Gummersbach also benefits from long-term economic security and at the same time makes an important contribution to a sustainable and liveable future for its citizens.“

A win in more ways than one

The ENGIE Deutschland team achieves the agreed savings through targeted methods to increase energy efficiency in the properties: The technology, energy and service specialists are integrating an external heating module with 200 kilowatts of heat output at the Becke elementary school and handing it over to the city of Gummersbach on a turnkey basis. A total of eight biomass boilers are used in the properties, for which the experts are responsible for maintenance. Three properties will be equipped with a bunker filling system, which will be used to transport the wood chips to storage. On the roofs of five different schools, photovoltaic systems with a total output of 241 kilowatt peak and three battery storage units generate a total of 197,815 kilowatt hours of sustainable electricity per year. In addition, ENGIE Deutschland is installing over 1,800 LED lights in the buildings and setting up higher-level building technology and an energy management system for around 80 meters. The measures are paying off: The city of Gummersbach is saving around 1,200 tons of CO₂ and thus around 786,000 euros per year. Marc Böhnke, Head of Facility Management at the City of Gummersbach, is delighted: "Thanks to the partnership with ENGIE Deutschland, we are coming a step closer to our climate targets and also benefiting economically. The decision to opt for energy-saving contracting is therefore a win-win situation for our town in several respects - both now and in the future."