Graz and Innsbruck Other cities are currently implementing innovative activities towards the decarbonization of their DH supply as well. Alone frontrunner is Graz, where the current fossil-fired CHP plants became uneconomic and almost 80 % of the overall DH supply has to be replaced. Therefore, the city of Graz initiated a stakeholder process, resulting in various decarbonization measures 33 . In this context, Graz was a use-case to validate different methodologies for evaluating and mapping the potential of waste heat 34 , including an innovative approach using gamification 35 . Another interesting heat source is currently investigated in Innsbruck: the drainage water from the 64 kilometers long Brenner Base tunnel between Austria and Italy 36 . Wind, Solar and Milk One of the regions with the highest wind energy supply in Austria is Burgenland, where two heat pumps have recently been installed in Neusiedl am See’s DH network. The heat pumps are directly connected to a transformer station from a wind park, thus reducing network fees and making the system economically feasible 37 . Austria’s second largest solar thermal system has recently been installed in Mürzzuschlag, a town of 8,500 inhabitants in a mountain region in Styria. Its DH system used to be fired by natural gas and biomass boilers. The new solar thermal field has a collector area of 5,000 m², resulting in CO 2 -savings of 930 t/a 38 . In the former “Martinek”-military camp south of Baden, a concept for a low- temperature heating and cooling grid is being elaborated at the moment, using waste heat from the neighboring NÖM dairy plant (milk) as well as locally available renewable heat sources 39 .
Figure 6: The drainage water from the Brenner Base Tunnel could supply Innsbruck's city districts with energy in the future. © BBT SE
Figure 7: Austria’s second largest solar thermal system in Mürzzuschlag 38
Flexibility is key The expected massive integration of renewable sources in the electricity grid represents a challenge in the energy system due to their stochastic character. In this context, an investigation of different integration options of heat pumps in Austrian DH networks have shown that heat generation costs can be reduced by taking advantage of low prices in the day-ahead market and additional revenues can be generated in the balancing market 40 . This concept is currently further investigated and scaled for the region of lower Austria 41 . Conclusions and outlook Current decarbonization strategies in the DH sector foresee mainly renewable fuels. On the other hand, many innovative projects including heat pumps, waste heat and geothermal energy are currently carried out, including also seasonal storages. A recent draft of the new renewable expansion law includes a mandatory development of a decarbonization pathway if applying for investment funding for DH networks. Further on, the concept of energy communities should be expanded to the heating sector. In any case, the future of DH in Austria has many promising options!
For further information please contact: Ralf-Roman Schmidt, Ralf-Roman.Schmidt@ait.ac.at
Notes page 1 1 https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/bundeskanzleramt/die-bundesregierung/regierungsdokumente.html 2 https://www.bmk.gv.at/dam/jcr:f0bdbaa4-59f2-4bde-9af9-e139f9568769/Energie_in_OE_2020_ua.pdf. 3 https://www.biomasseverband.at/wp-content/uploads/Bioenergie-Atlas-Oesterreich-2019.pdf 4 https://www.forum-gww.at/pdf/2020_02.pdf 5 https://eventmaker.at/uploads/16600/downloads/lechner_vortrag.pdf 6 https://plattform-wald-klima.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Scientist-Letter-to-Biden-von-der-Leyen- Michel-Suga-Moon-Re.-Forest-Biomass-February-11-2021.pdf 7 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/4/1819 8 https://energychallenge.hel.fi/ Notes page 2 9 http://jahrbuch.wienenergie.at/de/2019/Amoiu7jm/geschaeftsverlauf-finanzielle-und- nichtfinanzielle/?page=1 10 https://positionen.wienenergie.at/beitraege/decarb-studie/ 11 https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/strategien/step/step2025/fachkonzepte/energieraumplanung/ index.html 15 https://www.wienenergie.at/blog/staerkste-grosswaermepumpe-mitteleuropas-pumpt-in-wien/ 16 https://www.wienenergie.at/pressrelease/hanke-strebl-uno-city-klimaanlagen-heizen-wien-ein/ 17 https://greenenergylab.at/projects/thermaflex/ 18 https://www.wien.gv.at/stadtentwicklung/energie/themenstadtplan/ 19 https://www.klimafonds.gv.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/BGR0102017SC.pdf 20 https://greenenergylab.at/projects/spatial-energy-planning/ 21 https://www.wseas.org/multimedia/journals/environment/2016/a485815-066.pdf 12 https://www.ait.ac.at/themen/digital-resilient-cities/projects/dim4energy/ 13 http://annual.wienenergie.at/en/2019/ODW7LwFN/viennas-heating-future/ 14 https://www.wienenergie.at/blog/wie-funktioniert-wiens-groesster-wasserkocher/
Notes page 3 22 https://www.geotiefwien.at/ 23 https://www.gigates.at/index.php/de/ 24 https://greenenergylab.at/green-energy-lab-startet-mit-17-neuen-innovativen-projekten-und-einem- investitionsvolumen-von-80-millionen-euro-ins-neue-jahr/ 25 http://www.austrian-heatmap.gv.at/fileadmin/user_upload/FW_KWK_Endbericht.pdf 26 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.116963 27 Roman Geyer, Jürgen Krail, Benedikt Leitner, Ralf-Roman Schmidt, Paolo Leoni: Energy-economic assessment of reduced district heating system temperatures; Smart Energy (submitted) 28 Implementation of Low-Temperature District Heating Systems, A guidebook from the IEA technology collaboration programme concerning district heating and cooling, IEA DHC Annex TS2 (unpublished) 29 https://www.klimaaktiv.at/service/veranstaltungen/Allgemein/restart-gas-etagenheizung.html 30 https://www.diepresse.com/5730730/sonne-erde-wind-und-mikroben 31 https://www.oegut.at/de/projekte/energie/anergie-urban.php 32 https://nachhaltigwirtschaften.at/en/sdz/projects/heat-harvest.php Notes page 4 33 https://www.grazer-ea.at/projekte/waermeversorgung-graz-2020-2030/ 34 http://blogs.hawk-hhg.de/memphis/ and http://cities.ait.ac.at/uilab/udb/home/memphis/ 35 https://cities.ait.ac.at/projects/hotcity/ 36 https://www.tugraz.at/en/tu-graz/services/news-stories/media-service/singleview/article/brenner- basistunnel-als-leuchtturmprojekt-tunnelbauten-sollen-co2-neutrale-energielieferanten-werden/ 37 https://eventmaker.at/uploads/16600/downloads/lehner_vortrag.pdf 38 https://www.solid.at/en/reference/murzzuschlag.html 39 https://www.nefi.at/en/sanba/
40 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2019.116875 41 https://www.ivl.se/projektwebbar/flexi-sync.html
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