Stadtwerke Pirmasens Versorgungs GmbH (SWPS) and EEW Energy from Waste Saarbrücken GmbH, operator of the waste-to-energy plant (MHKW) Pirmasens, yesterday signed a long-term heat supply contract at the municipal utility company's premises. The agreement secures district heating supply from the waste-to-energy plant for existing and future customers in Pirmasens in a sustainable and reliable manner.
The contract was already concluded on December 19, 2025, and now comes into force publicly with today's signing. It has a long-term duration with an option to extend. This marks a key milestone for the city's heat supply and the further development of the location.
Efficiency gains and improved efficiency as clear added value for EEW
For EEW, the long-term contract means a substantial efficiency gain: the guaranteed purchase of the heat generated at the Pirmasens waste-to-energy plant enables continuous and targeted use of the waste heat and significantly increases the overall efficiency of the plant. In addition, EEW has increased the energy efficiency of the site by up to 25 percent by renewing the turbine. Annual electricity generation is thus more than 110,000 megawatt hours, which is equivalent to the demand of more than 30,000 households. The improved plant efficiency also avoids around 10,000 tons of CO₂ per year. Heat utilization always has priority: only when the demand of district heating customers has been met is the remaining energy used for power generation.
Michael Höling, Technical Director of the Pirmasens waste-to-energy plant, says: “The long-term heat supply contract with Stadtwerke Pirmasens is an important step for us. The reliable purchase of heat enables us to use the waste heat from the waste-to-energy plant even more efficiently and to further improve the overall efficiency of the plant. This strengthens the Pirmasens location, creates planning security for investments, and shows howwaste recycling and municipal heat supply can interact in a meaningful way.”
The agreement underscores EEW's commitment to making energy from waste as usable as possible and to continuously developing its plants—not only in terms of electricity generation, but also, in particular, in terms of heat utilization.
Benefit for the municipal utility company and its customers
For Stadtwerke Pirmasens, the agreement is also a key component in the future orientation of its heat supply. SWPS can offer its customers sustainable, reliable, and green district heating in the long term.
Christoph Dörr, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Pirmasens, is delighted with the long-term partnership: "We have already worked together trustingly and reliably in the past. We are all the more grateful that we can now expand this arrangement once again, even though the negotiations proved complicated due to the lack of legal guidelines regarding the recognition of district heating as “green” heat. However, this is a problem that politicians must address, as they have not yet managed to adopt reliable guidelines in this area. I would like to thank EEW for its flexibility, which has enabled the new cooperation agreement to create a reliable basis for the future for both contracting parties, while also allowing room for legal changes."
Green heat and contribution to municipal heat planning
District heating from the waste-to-energy plant is considered “green heat” within the meaning of the Heat Planning Act (WPG). For citizens, this means that anyone who purchases district heating automatically meets the legal requirements for a sustainable heat supply. With regard to municipal heat planning, the contract opens up additional perspectives. An expansion and densification of the district heating network, for example in the course of new neighborhood developments, can be secured by additional heat quantities from the waste-to-energy plant. A further increase in heat extraction from the plant is technically possible.
A look into the future of heating
By 2045 at the latest, the heat supply must be based entirely on renewable sources. The new contract creates the basis for gradually moving in this direction. In the future, green gas, hydrogen, large heat pumps, or other waste heat sources can be integrated into the system as a supplement
Background
At the end of 2023, the Zweckverband Abfallverwertung Südwestpfalz (ZAS) sold the MHKW to EEW following a multi-stage bidding process. Since then, two heat supply contracts, each with a term of 12 months, have been concluded for the years 2024 and 2025. Part of this was the idea that it is in the mutual interest to conclude a long-term contract in the future. This new heat contract builds on the long-standing, trusting cooperation between the MHKW and Stadtwerke Pirmasens, in which district heating was already being supplied to Stadtwerke by the operator EEW.