{"id":421183,"date":"2026-01-20T10:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421183\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T10:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T10:08:10","slug":"germany-is-using-heated-bricks-to-replace-gas-fired-industrial-boilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421183\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany is using heated bricks to replace gas-fired industrial boilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\"Germany
\n\t\t\t\tPhoto: Rondo Energy\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Rondo Energy and Covestro broke ground on a new kind of industrial heat battery at Covestro\u2019s Brunsb\u00fcttel chemical site in northern Germany, and it\u2019s designed to do something industry desperately needs: make clean, reliable steam without burning fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

Thanks to a surplus of renewable energy, Germany logged\u00a0573 hours<\/a> of negative electricity prices\u00a0in 2025, a 25% increase from 2024. Rondo\u2019s Heat Battery charges up when there\u2019s a surplus of cheap renewable electricity on the grid, stores that energy as heat in specially designed bricks (pictured), and then delivers steady, high\u2011temperature steam around the clock for industrial processes. It\u2019s aimed squarely at replacing fossil\u2011fuel\u2011fired boilers in facilities that run 24\/7.<\/p>\n

At 100 megawatt\u2011hours (MWh), the Brunsb\u00fcttel system is scheduled to come online by the end of 2026. It will be tied with the 100 MWh Rondo heat battery that went into operation in California in October<\/a> as the largest industrial heat battery in the world. Covestro\u2019s project is backed by Breakthrough Energy Catalyst and the European Investment Bank.<\/p>\n

Once operational, the battery is expected to supply about 10% of the steam needed at the Brunsb\u00fcttel site and cut carbon dioxide emissions by up to 13,000 metric tons per year. Steam production is a major energy demand for Covestro, and at the site, it\u2019s currently still largely powered by natural gas.<\/p>\n

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State officials see the project as a sign of what\u2019s possible in a renewables\u2011heavy grid. Schleswig\u2011Holstein\u2019s energy and climate minister, Tobias Goldschmidt, said at the groundbreaking that the state\u2019s rapid build\u2011out of renewable energy is enabling industrial projects like this one, helping strengthen energy independence while supporting climate\u2011neutral goals.<\/p>\n

The underlying technology is deceptively simple. Rondo\u2019s heat battery uses bricks \u2013 a proven heat\u2011storage medium that\u2019s been used in steelmaking for centuries \u2013 paired with modern automation and controls. Electricity heats the bricks; the stored heat runs a conventional boiler; and the system produces emission\u2011free steam using electricity from renewable sources.<\/p>\n

Rondo Energy CEO Eric Trusiewicz said, \u201cTogether with Covestro, we are demonstrating that clean industrial heat can be both highly reliable and a powerful tool for balancing the grid \u2013 while building the energy infrastructure needed to strengthen Europe\u2019s industrial base and energy security.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Brunsb\u00fcttel project performs as expected, Covestro says it will decide whether to roll out the technology on a larger scale across its operations.<\/p>\n

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FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Rondo Energy Rondo Energy and Covestro broke ground on a new kind of industrial heat battery at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-421183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}