tesa: Power-to-heat system as a blueprint for climate-neutral process heat

ORGANIZATION

tesa SE

INDUSTRY

Manufacture

SECTOR

Chemical

LOCATION

Germany

YEAR(S)

2026

Together with tesa ENERGYNEST is implementing a large-scale power-to-heat system with integrated thermal storage at its Hamburg plant – the largest production site in the global tesa network.

This puts the Hamburg plant on track to become a flagship project for climate-neutral industrial production, as a substantial share of the site’s energy-intensive process steam generation will be fossil-free in the future.

Customer

As a multinational company, tesa develops innovative adhesive tapes and self-adhesive product solutions for various industries, commercial customers, and end consumers for more than 125 years. Since 2001, tesa SE is an independent 100% affiliate of Beiersdorf AG (i.e., NIVEA, Eucerin, la prairie) with approx. 5,400 employees today. The company is active in 100 countriesand operates plants in Germany, Italy, China, the USA, and in Vietnam.

Today, the focus is on sustainability and energy-saving processes. As part of its group-wide sustainability strategy “we do”, the company has set itself the goal of making its own production (Scope 1 + 2) climate-neutral by 2030.

After a comprehensive comparison of various technological approaches, we opted for ENERGYNEST’s high-temperature heat storage system. This solution offers us a great deal of flexibility in steam generation and enables us to make efficient use of low-cost electricity hours and our own generation. Compared to direct electrification, the heat storage system performs better economically. For us, this shows that the transition to a climate-neutral industrial heat supply is not only technically feasible, but also economically viable.“

Jannik Thiermann

Global Operations – Project Manager Energy and Digitalization bei tesa SE

Requirement

The tesa plant in Hamburg manufactures high-performance adhesive tapes for the electronics, automotive, printing, and paper industries. Drying processes and solvent recovery require large amounts of process heat and steam, which until now have been generated primarily from fossil fuels.

Electrification of steam generation is therefore a decisive factor in making production climate-neutral. The power-to-heat plant with thermal heat storage from ENERGYNEST enables electricity from renewable sources to be converted into high-temperature steam and made available at different times.

Facts & Figures

The power-to-heat system will reduce CO₂ emissions at the Hamburg site by around 4,600 metric tons per year.
This corresponds to approximately 20 per cent of site-related emissions based on the 2018 reference year.
Around two-thirds of the site’s annual steam demand are covered by the power-to-heat plant in a climate-neutral, flexible and grid-supportive manner.

Dennis Mayer

Director Project Development bei ENERGYNEST

The project with tesa shows that switching away from fossil fuels is not only economically viable, but also increases flexibility and security of supply. The ENERGYNEST system is precisely tailored to the on-site process heat requirements, the existing plant infrastructure, and the available installation space at the location. This creates a reproducible, scalable blueprint that serves as an example for numerous industrial sectors.“

Zahlen & Fakten

Der Einsatz der Power-to-Heat-Lösung bietet zahlreiche Vorteile. So kann LEONHARD KURZ:

Laden: 34 bar, entwärmt

Entladen: 5 bar, Trockendampf

Durchflussmenge: 1 – 5 Tonnen/Std.

Kapazität: 5 Tonnen

Lebensdauer der Konstruktion: 200 000 Std.

Lade-/Entladezyklen: 462 000

Konstruktionscode: EN 13445 + PED-Richtlinie 2014/68/EU Cat IV, Mod G

Laden:

34 bar, entwärmt

Entladen:

5 bar, Trockendampf

Durchflussmenge:

1 – 5 Tonnen/Std.

Kapazität:

5 Tonnen

Lebensdauer der Konstruktion:

200 000 Std.

Lade-/Entladezyklen:

462 000

Konstruktionscode:

EN 13445 + PED-Richtlinie 2014/68/EU Cat IV, Mod G

Power-to-heat solution

A 10 MW power-to-heat system with a 40 MWh thermal energy storage unit is being integrated at the tesa site in Hamburg. The thermal storage facility consists of 24 modules in which heat is stored in concrete pipes and transported via thermal oil – comparable to heated concrete, which continues to reliably emit heat even hours after charging. The system is designed for an operating life of at least 25 years and is characterized by particularly low-maintenance operation.

The thermal storage system allows the targeted use of inexpensive surplus electricity from renewable energies and flexible adjustment of electricity procurement to market prices, weather, and grid load. An AI-supported control system links power-to-heat, PV, wind, and other efficiency measures into an intelligent overall system.

Schedule

2000

Fall

Groundbreaking power-to-heat system & thermal energy storage facility

2000

Summer

Commissioning power-to-heat system & thermal energy storage facility

Herbst 2026

Sommer 2027

Herbst 2026

Spatenstich Power-to-Heat & Speicher

Sommer 2027

Inbetriebnahme Power-to-Heat & Speicher

On the road to implementation

Together with tesa, we are implementing one of the largest commercial power-to-heat plants with thermal storage for industrial processes in Germany. The project sets new standards for industrial electrification and shows how thermal storage and flexibility is becoming an enabler of the energy transition.“

Alex Robertson

CEO bei ENERGYNEST

The energy concept underlying the joint project, consisting of a power-to-heat plant and heat storage facility, can be flexibly transferred to other energy-intensive production sites, particularly in the chemical industry as well as in paper and food manufacturing. tesa and ENERGYNEST are already assessing the rollout of the concept to additional plants.