The Rostock electrical engineering company SEAR has received orders in millions to produce so-called power-to-heat systems. The orders for the plants, in which excess electrical energy is converted into heat, came from Vattenfall and RWE, said SEAR GmbH on Thursday. The power suppliers could react flexibly to fluctuations in the electricity grid.

The technology of power-to-heat is especially important in the context of the energy demand with the expansion of renewable energies such as wind energy and photovoltaics, they said. Current surpluses from renewable energies would be used for heat production, which would eventually save fossil fuels as well as heat emissions. In future, regenerative control plants will also be used to supply power stations with power and heat from energy surpluses.