© AEE
Greifswald is Energy Municipality of the Year 2025
All of Greifswald is celebrating the title, which is awarded each year under the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. From December 2025 to January 2026, citizens from across Germany were invited to vote for their favourite candidate from a shortlist of twelve Energy Municipalities for 2025. In the final round of the competition, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) faced the municipality of Schwalmtal (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the district of Regensburg (Bavaria). Greifswald won with 42.3% of the votes, ahead of Schwalmtal (35.8%) and Regensburg (21.9%).
With its strong focus on sector coupling, Greifswald is a deserving winner. Sector coupling plays a key role for the energy transition, using renewable electricity for heating, cooling and propulsion. In Greifswald the electricity comes right from the ‘sunbed’ – the nickname for the city’s solar thermal installation, the largest of its kind in Germany. It consists of 3 792 collectors and generates 8 000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity per year – enough to supply heat for 800 to 1000 households and to avoid 1 800 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Greifswald has invested more than €40 million into building a sustainable heat supply.
A well-balanced mix of solar, electric boilers, combined heat and power plants and heat storage
“We congratulate the city of Greifswald and all stakeholders involved in shaping the local energy transition on another well-deserved award,” said Dr Robert Brandt, managing director of the Renewable Energies Agency (AEE). “Greifswald’s highly efficient approach to the energy transition, based on smart sector coupling and a convincing mobility strategy, showcases the positive impact the energy transition can have on a community.” In June 2025 the city had already been voted Energy Municipality of the Month.
Greifswald’s innovative combined heat and power (CHP) system consists of a solar thermal installation, an electric boiler that can convert surplus renewable electricity into heat, and a CHP plant delivering both heat and power (4.6 megawatts of thermal energy and 4.2 megawatts of power). This is complemented by a pressurised heat storage tank and a large atmospheric heat storage tank (5 500 m3).
The latter can store up to 200 megawatt-hours (MWh) at 98°C and, during the summer months, can supply up to 30 hours of heat – roughly the amount needed for an entire weekend. This enables the CHP installations to be operated in line with electricity prices, switching on electrical devices and equipment at times when electricity is cheapest.
Carbon-free heat from Easter to October
In an effort to use heat even more efficiently, Greifswald replaced its two old gas turbines with the more efficient “Boddenluft” CHP plant (its second innovative CHP system) last year, supplementing it with a large heat pump. This provides up to eight million kilowatt-hours of additional carbon-free heat for the municipal district heating network, ensuring zero-carbon heat from Easter to October.
Together with the biomethane-based CHP plant on Kapaunerstraße in Greifwald’s historic old town, the share of renewables in district heating now reaches 20%.
As a result, carbon emissions are reduced by 46 500 tonnes each year. The gas turbine in the city’s “Energiepark” has already been adapted to become hydrogen-ready. The transformation of the nearby coastal town of Lubmin into a hydrogen hub will be important for the future planning of Greifswald’s heat supply, as will the extensive district heating network, which can connect a large number of households as the renewables share in heat generation continues to rise. Around 70% of Greifswald’s households are already linked to the district heating network.
Climate-friendly mobility is the norm in Greifswald’s transport network
“Greifswald is also a frontrunner on climate-friendly mobility. Bicycles account for 44% of people’s trips each day, and 90% of those by the city’s 10,000 students,” says Lord Mayor Stefan Fassbinder. Most of the city’s busses run on biomethane, and half of the utility’s fleet of vehicles are EVs.
In May 2007 the city council unanimously adopted a ten-point plan covering energy-efficient buildings, renewable energy, transport, bicycle infrastructure and public outreach to raise environmental awareness. In 2008 Greifswald set up a climate action alliance, bringing together local stakeholders from the utilities, the university and local authorities. The goal of this year’s Energy Municipality of the Year winner is to achieve net zero by 2035.