Biomass plant failure in Braunschweig forces costly gas backup shift
A key biomass boiler at BS Energy's combined heat and power plant in Braunschweig failed in January 2023. The breakdown caused 323 hours of downtime, forcing the city to rely more on gas-powered systems. Despite the issue, heat supply remained uninterrupted for residents.
The biomass facility on Hamburger Straße stopped working in early January. Since its launch in late 2022, it had operated for 1,165 hours before the fault occurred. During the outage, backup systems—mostly gas-fired plants—took over to keep homes and businesses warm.
The shift to gas led to higher CO₂ emissions than usual. BS Energy faced financial pressure, as extended downtime cut into revenue and increased operational costs. The company worked to restore the biomass plant quickly, given its role in the city's energy transition.
The biomass plant has been vital since Braunschweig phased out coal in 2024. It was designed to provide sustainable heat, but the January failure highlighted the need for reliable backup infrastructure. No details were available on whether similar incidents had occurred before or how long repairs took.
The outage did not affect heat delivery across Braunschweig. However, the increased use of gas temporarily raised emissions. BS Energy now aims to prevent future disruptions and reduce reliance on fossil fuel backups.
