The company

The mid-sized company SOKRATHERM was founded in 1977 by Dipl.-Ing. Hermann Meinhold in Hiddenhausen (Northwestern Germany) and is active in the field of energy and heat technology since then. Today SOKRATHERM is one of the leading producers of combined heat and power generation units (CHP units) which produce heat and power very efficiently and eco-friendly by utilizing the cogeneration principle.

!n 1990 SOKRATHERM has entered a licence contract with the engine manufacturer IFA-Motorenwerke Nordhausen in Eastern Germany to build CHP units which, however, ended two years later due to the closure of the IFA-Motorenwerke. Subsequently SOKRATHERM founded a subsidiary in Nordhausen in 1992 and erected an own production plant in 1996. With the continuously rising demand for its CHP units, it doubled its production area in 2008 and expanded further in 2012 and 2018. The 4000 m² of workspace today contain the CHP unit production with test sites and switchgear cabinet construction as well as the construction, purchasing, documentation and technical service departments equipped with latest information technology.

Central administration, sales and project department are located in Hidddenhausen where the construction of a new office building has started in 2019. In recent years, additional sales offices in Germany as well as international sales and service partners have joined. Currently SOKRATHERM engages over 100 employees and ca. 10 apprentices. With the appointment of Dipl.-Ing. Johannes Meinhold as managing director in 2014 the family company was handed over to the next generation.

The focus of the product range has grown from its beginnings in the 50 kW class to substantially more powerful CHP units. In 1993, the company has become the market leader of the 100 kW compact CHP unit class, presented on the EXPO 2000 fair the world’s first 200 kW compact CHP unit with integrated switchgear cabinet, introduced the most compact CHP unit of the 400 kW class in 2007 and brought in 2013 the currently most powerful compact CHP unit with 532 kW to the market.

In the smaller power range SOKRATHERM presented in 2017 its fully redesigned CHP unit type GG 50 which is even more compact than its predecessor and allows an efficiency rate of up to 104 % at optimal conditions for condensing heat utilization. In all compact CHP units the iPC control system based on an industrial PC provides for a fully automatic, unattended operation and makes a comprehensive, web-based remote control and smooth integration in virtual power plants possible.

High product quality, continuous innovation and smart maintenance concepts have generated an excellent reputation of the SOKRATHERM compact CHP units. It is documented in the constantly high customer satisfaction which is measured in the course of our regularly ISO 9001 certified quality management system. Numerous reports in the professional press and awards  confirm this as well as the satisfied customers of circa 2000 compact CHP units delivered in over 20 countries.