The Kolping City of Kerpen and its Partners Agree on a Long-Term Cooperation on the Way to "Speicherstadtkerpen"

The Kolping city of Kerpen, located in the German Rhine-Erft district, is planning to become a highly modern innovation center and a technology nucleus in the Rhineland region by 2032 within the framework of the "SpeicherStadtKerpen" project. With the signing of the cooperation agreement by partners innogy Westenergie, Siemens Energy and Stadtwerke Kerpen, the Kolping city with its approximately 70,000 inhabitants has reached another important milestone for this ambitious future project.

The aim of the long-term cooperation agreement, is to make the Kolping city worth living in and attractive for long term urban development, to transform it into one of the most modern and sustainable cities in Germany with the help of an innovative, parallel and interlinked eight-stage urban development, energy and infrastructure concept. This goal is to be achieved by successively linking the energy, mobility, logistics, industry and residential sectors. The first component of this development path is the continuous establishment and expansion of emission-neutral, sustainable and intelligent energy supply, transmission and storage, coupled with state-of-the-art and sustainable urban development, mobility, logistics and industrial solutions. Provided financial support from European funds is available, this will make a major contribution to an urban development, that is in harmony with the surrounding nature.

Dieter Spürck, Mayor of the Kolping City of Kerpen, as well as Joachim Schwister, the municipal project developer and technical delegate of the Kolping City, explain the objectives of the project, which has received a lot of positive feedback in politics, economy and society. "Together with Siemens Energy, the Research Centre Jülich GmbH, innogy Westenergie and our public utilities we have developed an extremely promising concept which should help to transform both the Kolping City and the district energetically, innovatively and sustainably in order to become an innovative, strong in implementation and prospering district municipality by the year 2032. With our holistic project approach, which is designed for sustainability and CO 2 neutrality and which combines the energy sector with sustainable urban development as well as the sectors mobility, logistics and industry, we want to become a model for cities and municipalities throughout Europe within the framework of the sector coupling.”

Manfred Sieger, General Manager Siemens Energy Germany, is also convinced of the project. "We are very pleased the Kolping city of Kerpen has chosen us as the trusted and competent partner for the conception and realization of this project, which is so important for the entire region. Within the framework of the future initiative "Energy Landscape Rhineland Territory", which was launched by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, we as Siemens Energy, with the help of our highly modern technologies and our know-how along the entire energy value chain, want to make a significant contribution, together with our partners, to make the vision of a sustainable and emission-neutral SpeicherStadtKerpen a reality.”

Katherina Reiche, CEO of innogy Westenergie GmbH: “With its concept, Kolpingstadt Kerpen will become a role model for many other municipalities in the areas of structural change and energy transition. We are delighted to be an equal partner in this trailblazing project. innogy Westenergie is the reliable, modern, technology-leading partner to the municipalities when it comes to infrastructure topics in Western Germany. With products, services and solutions, we want to work together to meet the challenges of the 21st century and support cities and municipalities on their way into the energy future.

The partners of Kolping City, innogy Westenergie, the local public utilities and Siemens Energy are planning to install and use state-of-the-art solutions and technologies in the fields of power generation, transmission and storage, such as highly efficient gas and steam turbines in combination with the latest hydrogen technology. In particular, the generation and storage of green hydrogen using electricity from wind and photovoltaic plants, as well as the associated further use and refinement of the element, for example as an important raw material for transportation, housing estates and industry or as fuel for gas turbines, is of great importance in the project. Thus, the combination of various generation and storage sources will ensure an emission-neutral supply of electricity, cold and heat in Kerpen and the region. In addition, the versatile use and the associated promotion of green hydrogen as a renewable energy source and important raw material in industry will be further promoted in Kerpen, especially with regard to the current cooperation of the Kolping city with the Research Centre Jülich regarding the economic use of recycled CO 2 – an important aspect for mastering the energy turnaround.

Michael Kreusch, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Kerpen: "Stadtwerke Kerpen was founded to shape the future of energy for the citizens of Kerpen as a local contact. For the young, municipal energy supply company, Stadtwerke Kerpen, which focuses on innovative and climate-friendly products and projects, offers an excellent opportunity to secure the future of the region together with its partners.”