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How four start-up years changed the Penzberger Stadtwerke

2020-10-21T10:16:08.435Z


The Penzberger Stadtwerke have changed significantly. You are no longer just responsible for water and wastewater. They operate solar parks, are involved in wind turbines, sell electricity, lay fiber optic cables and create a district heating network. This is closely connected with the board member Josef Vilgertshofer. At the end of October he will leave the municipal utility.


The Penzberger Stadtwerke have changed significantly.

You are no longer just responsible for water and wastewater.

They operate solar parks, are involved in wind turbines, sell electricity, lay fiber optic cables and create a district heating network.

This is closely connected with the board member Josef Vilgertshofer.

At the end of October he will leave the municipal utility.

Penzberg - In July 2016, Josef Vilgertshofer took over the board position at Penzberger Stadtwerke.

Born in Munich, he came from the public utility company in Unterschleißheim, which already had a broad portfolio of tasks back then.

Vilgertshofer should also lead the Penzberger Stadtwerke in this direction.

With success.

The municipal company is now active in many areas, especially in the energy sector and in digitization.

He is "absolutely satisfied", looks back Vilgertshofer.

It was four years like in the start-up scene.

Penzberger Stadtwerke: Four years like in the start-up scene

A “start-up” was already up and running before Vilgertshofer came to Penzberg.

In 2015, several municipal utilities merged to form “17er Oberlandenergie GmbH” to sell green electricity.

At the start, Penzberg had 150 customers, now there are 1050, says Vilgertshofer.

For Penzberger Stadtwerke, however, it was not just about selling electricity.

In January 2018 they became co-owners of the Penzberg power grid.

At that time, together with Bayernwerk, they founded the company “Power Supply Penzberg GmbH & Co.KG”, in which they hold 51 percent of the shares.

Penzberger Stadtwerke: solar parks and wind power plants

Stadtwerke was also involved in energy production.

We see ourselves as a “driver of the energy transition”, explains Vilgertshofer.

Stadtwerke founded the companies “VSP 22” and “VSP 23” with the Munich company “Vispiron”, which have been operating the two solar parks on the Penzberg-Bichl state road - a total of 1.5 megawatts - since August 2018.

The Penzberger Stadtwerke are also active in other locations.

In Uffing am Ammersee, they are building a 750-kilowatt solar park with the local community and “Vispiron”, which will produce electricity from December.

The municipal utilities also got into wind power.

They participated in the “Energy Alliance Bavaria”, which develops or buys wind farms nationwide.

In this way, they have been involved in the Neutz wind farm in Saxony-Anhalt since 2019.

At the end of 2020, the Wadern-Wenzelstein wind farm in Saarland, in which the municipal utility is also involved, is due to go online.

The three towers are already up and the rotor blades are on their way, says Vilgertshofer.

Stadtwerke: District heating network as a "promising baby"

The outgoing board member describes the district heating network, which the municipal utilities have been expanding in the city for three years, as a “promising baby”.

Next year, says Vilgertshofer, a second "island network" is to be built in the city center, which will be connected to the existing network in 2023 - when the planned new biomass power plant goes into operation.

In the heating sector, says Vilgertshofer, the energy transition will be decided.

The municipal utilities aimed to generate 80 percent of the heat from biomass.

Digitization: broadband expansion and data line to Munich

Another division of the municipal utilities is digitization.

The broadband expansion with fiber optic cables has been going on for years.

“A location factor for the future,” says Vilgertshofer.

In 2018, the Stadtwerke also founded the company "P-KOM", which operates a fiber optic connection along the A95 to a Munich data center.

This is valuable for companies that want to outsource their IT services, says Vilgertshofer.

Since the end of 2019, "P-KOM" has also had a line along the Tutzing-Kochel railway line.

A third fiber optic strand is planned along the B472 towards Bad Tölz.

Stadtwerke: From wave pool operator to family pool builder

According to Vilgertshofer, the family bathroom is only the biggest project from the outside world.

A few years ago, the municipal utilities were given responsibility for the operation of the old wave pool.

Now they are also responsible for building the new family pool.

The balance had recently been clouded by the fact that large parts of the new building had to be rescheduled.

The bathroom is now expected to cost 25.4 million euros and will not be ready until autumn 2022.

Stadtwerke: Farewell to Josef Vilgertshofer

At the end of October, Josef Vilgertshofer will resign from his office prematurely.

Actually, his contract would have run until June 2021.

It is a matter of "purely private reasons," he says.

He had already sent a signal last year, but was then asked to hang on for another year.

Mayor Stefan Korpan (CSU) thanked him recently when he said goodbye in a municipal utility meeting.

According to Korpan, it is astonishing what Josef Vilgertshofer has brought about for the energy transition over the past four years.

The outgoing Stadtwerke boss does not want to say anything about his own future plans.

For the Stadtwerke, however, he sees further opportunities - be it with the tenant electricity model for the new building area on Birkenstrasse or with the establishment of a gas network company.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-10-21

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