Siemens Fürth site becomes climate-neutral

The Siemens site in Fürth wants to become climate-neutral in operation within a few years. To this end, a concrete package of measures was put together by the site management together with Siemens Real Estate. The first milestone was the commissioning in September of the largest photovoltaic system to date, which was retrofitted to an existing Siemens building and covers an area of around 3,000 square metres with 1,125 modules. From the beginning of 2024, further measures will follow, such as heat recovery via the installation of highly efficient ventilation systems and the commissioning of heat pumps to reduce energy consumption. These steps are intended to reduce the CO₂ emissions of building operations to almost zero by 2026. This makes Fürth one of the first manufacturing locations in Germany to implement the Siemens goal of becoming climate-neutral worldwide by 2030 ahead of schedule. "We want to set a good example in decarbonisation. We are using our own expertise to do this. Sustainability is deeply anchored in our strategy and our portfolio," said plant manager Roland Melzer at the official commissioning of the photovoltaic system on the roof of the car park in Breslauer Straße. Fürth's Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Jung welcomed the initiative: "Industry and business are decisive factors for the energy turnaround in Fürth as well. I thank Siemens here for its pioneering role and hope for numerous imitators."

The new photovoltaic system replaces the old system from 2005, which had an output of around 34 kilowatts peak. With a peak output of 460 kilowatts, the new modules provide significantly more power and can cover part of the daily electricity demand. The new PV system thus supports the site's resilience. The site has already been drawing 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources since 2016. "The big challenge is the heat supply," said Kerstin Renkamp, Head of Asset Management Nuremberg & Fürth at Siemens Real Estate. A mix of cascaded base-load heat pumps as well as the use of waste heat from production will ensure a climate-neutral heat supply. 
"The bottom line is that with all these measures, the current consumption of 2,100 tons of carbon dioxide can be reduced to a minimum. At the same time, energy costs will also be significantly reduced. That is remarkable," sums up Steffen Rümmler, Head of Germany at Siemens Real Estate. "With Siemens Xcelerator and the Industrial Operation X portfolio, we help our customers to make production processes CO₂-neutral - from the supply chain to the final product. We are also using the same tools at our site to make our contribution to decarbonization," affirmed site manager Roland Melzer.

Together with two other plants, the switchgear plant in Frankfurt and the electronics plant in Amberg, Fürth is a pilot site for Siemens' decarbonization program in Germany. Most of Siemens' German production sites have an evolved building fabric, some of which is decades old. Therefore, more efforts are needed. "Intensive research is being conducted in the field around decarbonization of real estate. There are new products and solutions on the market almost every week - including from our company. We are analyzing this closely, because with the goal of being CO₂-neutral by 2030 in mind, we will have to use the latest technologies to decarbonize all of our German Siemens locations efficiently and sustainably," says Steffen Rümmler.
 

Honored with the Sustainability Heroes Awards 2023 in the Carbon Footprint category
Siemens was honored this year by DQS and DGQ for its successful approach to energy conservation at the Fürth site. By introducing consistent environmental and energy management systems, the site is considered a pioneer within the Siemens Group. A decisive factor in this process was the involvement of employees. A change in energy awareness among employees moved management to address new approaches to energy conservation and to provide a budget for continuous energy-saving measures. As a result, the site is on track to achieve its goal of a climate-neutral site as early as 2025.

Background to the Fürth development and production site
The Siemens site in Fürth has been developing and manufacturing Siemens AG products and solutions for the global market since 1954. Today, Fürth is the global headquarters for two of the key business segments of the Siemens Digital Industries - Factory Automation Group: Human Machine Interfaces (HMI) and Sense & Act. The electronics plant in Fürth is in transition from a small-series plant to a central series production site for the "Human Machine Interface" portfolio of the Siemens Digital Industries Division and is thus one of the core sites for the Siemens Industrial portfolio. Around 1600 employees develop and manufacture key products for the automation of production plants worldwide at the site.