BTB Berlin

(c) BTB Blockheizkraftwerks- Träger- und Betreibergesellschaft mbH Berlin

A SMALL TALK WITH
David Weiblein, Commercial Managing Director, BTB Blockheizkraftwerks- Träger- und Betreibergesellschaft mbH Berlin     

1.  Why are you involved as a Berlin-Partner?  

For BTB, partnerships are an integral part of our corporate strategy and philosophy. As a Berlin-based company, we have been committed to Berlin-based associations, initiatives and institutions in the fields of science, sports and culture for many years. BTB also supports programs for regional development or upgrading urban neighbourhoods. Of course, we are particularly involved in "our neighbourhoods" of Treptow-Köpenick and Neukölln. To name one example: We have been supporting the development of close cooperative relationships between citizens and business enterprises in Schöneweide for 15 years as an ally in the association SO! MIT UNS citizens' platform Berlin-Southeast. In keeping with our motto "Intelligent locally", local involvement is particularly important to us.

Berlin-Partner is the perfect complement to our commitment to Berlin. The network itself, but also the initiatives launched by Berlin Partner, such as the "Berlin against Anti-Semitism" campaign, give us as a business enterprise the opportunity to fulfil our social and cultural responsibilities. In addition, Berlin Partner has managed to develop a variety of exciting formats to bring Berlin's business, political and administrative communities together and to force profitable exchange between us stakeholders. 
 

2.  What moves your company, what are you currently working on?

When I look at my schedule, it is clearly dominated by two topics at the moment. On the one hand, of course, as an experienced energy supplier, we have a particular obligation to our customers, especially in operational terms. Security of supply is a valuable asset to which we at BTB have always been committed. The gas, energy and now also economic crisis triggered by the Russian war of aggression - in the midst of a pandemic situation unprecedented, at least in my generation - demands a great deal from our specialist departments and the experts who work there. Over decades, they have built up processes and interfaces, but also personal relationships with market partners such as suppliers. And it is these trusting relationships from person to person and from organization to organization that now help us to find and implement solutions for our customers and their energy supply time and again. In this context, we are not only concerned about the current supply situation, but also observe price developments with great concern.

On the other hand, the current situation throughout Germany, with its high dependence on fossil primary energy imports, shows us that our strategy of sustainable energy supply is the timely response to rising energy prices and changing environmental conditions, both from an economic and an ecological point of view. The fact that we already use 60% renewable energies in our district heating network in southeast Berlin, which is now 160 km long and via which we supply more than 100,000 Berlin households and businesses with environmentally friendly district heating, is an outstanding figure and confirms that we are absolutely right in our ongoing investment in the future. However, we do not want to and cannot rest on our laurels. And so, as the second focus of my calendar, you can just take a strict continuation and forcing of our transformation path. We will have completely phased out fossil fuels by 2040 at the latest, so we will have completely decarbonized our existing plants and supply our customers either with green district heating or with innovative, sustainable solutions in local neighbourhoods. And Berlin has a huge potential of sustainable solution building blocks. Natural environmental heat sources and commercial waste heat sources, together with heat pumps and renewable cogeneration, will shape not only the Berlin heat transition, but also the entire Berlin energy transition over the next two decades by means of sector coupling. And this is where we as BTB want to and will continue to play a relevant role for Berlin in the future.
 

3.  What do you appreciate about Berlin as a business location?

I love Berlin because it is a city with almost unlimited possibilities, where the most diverse people can find space next to each other. Berlin is a city that basically welcomes both guests and immigrants with open arms and is so attractive that more people continue to come to Berlin than leave. For us as an energy supplier and infrastructure operator, this development also means steady growth. We can all experience this growth every day on busy streets or full S-Bahn trains. It is particularly visible in the cranes and construction sites in the capital, which have been part of everyday life in the city for many years.

I myself came to Berlin in 2009. Before that, I had learned my "trade" in Saxony-Anhalt, in my hometown of Bitterfeld, for ten years at a municipal heating supplier. This time was marked by urban redevelopment in the east, where "urban redevelopment" meant "urban deconstruction." So I'm sure you can well imagine that I personally particularly appreciate socially and environmentally compatible growth, as is usually the case in Berlin. To the unasked question of where I see the greatest expansion strength in Berlin as a business location, I am very happy to answer again and again: In terms of speed! If Berlin wants to realize its potential, we have to become faster and less bureaucratic. The transformation to a sustainable metropolis in particular will not forgive us any delays. 

4.  What makes your company stand out in terms of innovation? 

As a flexible and future-oriented company, BTB places a strong focus on technological developments. In cooperation with universities and research institutions, we were and are involved in a number of research projects on topics such as sector coupling, power-to-heat, e-mobility, storage technology, environmental heat and geothermal energy, and cooperate with start-ups in the development of digital applications. Today, we see ourselves in equal parts as an energy supplier that stands for above-average customer proximity and supply security, as a modern service provider that develops innovative, sustainable property and neighbourhood solutions tailored to its customers, and as a driver of technical innovations.

As BTB GmbH, we are able to combine all the advantages of a locally operating medium-sized company with a high degree of vertical integration with the advantages of a wholly owned subsidiary in the E.ON Group with extensive know-how and high innovative and financial strength.

BTB stands especially for innovation with practical relevance. In all research projects and trials, we always make sure that we can transfer the results and findings into practical use as quickly as possible. A current example is our "ATES project", which we have been pursuing for several years in cooperation with the Geo Research Center Potsdam (GfZ). This involves a deep thermal storage facility in Adlershof. Within the framework of a geological exploratory drilling in December 2021, we were able to determine a rock layer at a depth of approx. 450 meters, which has both the natural barrier layer to protect our groundwater and the absorption potential (aquifer) to enable seasonal storage of regenerative district heating. GfZ researchers currently believe that the ATES (aquifer thermal storage) has a potential of up to 30 gigawatt hours of heat, which we could load in the summer when our renewable district heating generators are not operating at capacity, and then unload again during the heating season, when our renewable generators reach their capacity limits, thus reducing the use of fossil generators. We would now like to implement this ATES for Berlin in the medium term in a follow-up research project.