Our business fields
From a mining and power plant operator to a versatile energy, infrastructure and service company – this is our path into the future. With electricity and heat from lignite, we make a reliable and flexible contribution to energy supply along the legally defined coal exit path. At the same time, we are using our infrastructure, estate and expertise for new business areas and are keeping pace with the transformation of the energy supply industry.
Innovative energy solutions
We have been using virtual power plants to remotely control, monitor and market plants since 2007. These energy services have also been provided by us to partners under the brand name LEAG energy cubes. The spectrum ranges from direct marketing, PPAs and Redispatch 2.0 for renewable energy plants to ancillary service pools and flexible energy solutions for industrial and commercial locations.
Operation management in modules
We ensure the technically flawless and efficiently optimised operation of energy plants by LEAG energy cubes operational management. It offers modulare the sub-areas of technical operational management, technical service and performance optimisation. From individual modular packages to complete services, our customers have the opportunity to cover their needs individually.
Industrial services
Unusually large equipment is a core competence of LEAG's main workshop - from excavator shovels to large pumps to freight wagons. Under the brand MCR Engineering, the range of services is also open to external customers. The focus is on large equipment maintenance, mechanical engineering and structural steelwork as well as the maintenance of rail vehicles. For this purpose, there is 26,000 square metres of workshop space, 1,000 metres of covered track and 300 qualified employees.
Refining
About six percent of the lignite mined in Lusatia is not used in large-scale power plants. Instead this portion is processed to solid or free-flowing fuels that can be used efficiently and in a decentralised way. The special value of the resource is being optimally enhanced – it is 'refined'. Our refining site in Schwarze Pumpe is one of the most modern of its kind in Europe.
Our production and resources
Power plants
The lignite-fired power plants of Lausitz Energie Kraftwerke AG generated around 41 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2020. In this way, we are making an important contribution to the security of supply in times of the energy transition. Our power plants provide reliable, demand-based power and heat around the clock. At the same time, they are able to react flexibly to the fluctuating production of renewable electricity. With billions invested in our power plant park the emissions have been considerably reduced. This continues to be our target.
Gas-fired power plants
In view of the decreasing secure power plant capacities as a result of the nuclear and coal phase-out, gas-fired power plants are important pillars of the electricity grids in the energy transition. With our gas-fired power plants in Thyrow and Ahrensfelde in Brandenburg, we already have experience in operating such grid-relevant plants. Our involvement in the Leipheim project expands LEAG's business field portfolio.
Renewable energies
Renewable energies are to cover around 65 percent of Germany's electricity demand by 2030. We are also intensifying our commitment and want to grow especially in wind and photovoltaics. Renewables are more than just a single new business field. Wind, solar and co. create synergies for regional value creation and are closely linked to other core issues at LEAG such as operations management, direct marketing of renewable electricity and the development of a regional hydrogen economy.
Battery storage
The development of large-scale electricity storage facilities is a key to converting the energy supply from conventional power plants to renewable energies. We are operating the BigBattery Lausitz, at the Schwarze Pumpe site. It is Europe's largest battery storage facility in this constellation. The megawatt plant is designed to help stabilise electricity grid operations in the event of fluctuations in generation and demand.
Mining
The opencast mines of Lausitz Energie Bergbau AG produced around 43 million tonnes of lignite in 2020. It is our aim to supply the Lusatian power plants and the refining plant in Schwarze Pumpe reliably and to a high standard of quality. We limit and reduce the unavoidable impact of mining on the environment and landscape as much as possible. With timely recultivation straight after mining we see that a safe diverse postmining landscape is created.
Circular economy – Ressources and recycling
The aim of this business expansion is to recycle different types of waste or to use it thermally as a substitute fuel. We are planning a RDF (refuse derived fuel) plant at the Jänschwalde site together with the environmental service provider Veolia. Another project involves the establishment of a specialist waste management company for the recycling and disposal of mainly mineral waste. Here, quality-assured recycling products and building materials are to be produced.