The results have to be submitted to the regional council, where an evaluation can be made.
This article will focus on the requirements for municipal heat planning.
The visits of ministry delegations to Denmark in the framework of the German-Danish Energy Dialog showed the effect of an obligation for urban thermal energy planning. Minister Untersteller signed an MoU 2017 while projects with the Danish Energy Agency supported the process. In parallel to the legislative process, the state government initiated a pilot project in three cities in Baden-Württemberg. The cities are different in size and in the range of 20,000 to 230,000 inhabitants (Freiburg, Baden-Baden, and Rastatt). A different engineering company conducted each project. This pilot phase was closely followed by the ministry for the environment and the KEA climate protection and energy agency (KEA-BW). This initial phase's findings are summarized in a guidebook drafted by KEA-BW being published at the end of this year. Valuable input was the report "Experience with Heat planning in Denmark" provided by the Danish Energy Agency. The cities have to finalize their plans by the end of 2023. KEA- BW will assist them on their way: KEA-BW will manage a network of municipalities obliged to municipal heat planning. We supply a list of FAQs and are available for individual problems. Next, KEA-BW supports the engineering companies that work for the cities. We expect that a few big cities can perform the planning process with their municipal staff. The majority needs the support of an experienced engineering company. The next step for KEA-BW is to develop a technical handbook defining boundary conditions for the task. Heat plans of different cities need to be comparable; hence the boundary conditions for calculations have to be identical: Interest rate or the availability of renewable gases, and their price has to be defined. Our expectation is that district heating will play a significantly more dominant role in the future. Excess heat, cogeneration, heat pumps, and solar thermal systems can be used much more efficiently if the systems exceed a single building's demand. Thus, municipal heat planning will pave the road towards new and more efficient district heating systems.
If the transition towards a carbon-free heat supply shall be successful, municipalities need a clear strategy. This strategy must be local; local boundary conditions must be considered. In the first step, the status quo of energy consumption has to be analyzed. One element is a map showing the building type and the age of the buildings. This information already forms a valuable basis for the heat demand of the residential buildings. The amendment explicitly allows municipalities to gather heat consumption data, i.e., data from utilities or chimney sweeps, who own a good database of all installed heating systems. They are as well obliged to provide their data for the forthcoming planning process. Such data is essential to get a proper image of the current situation of the heat supply. Furthermore, municipalities have the right to use data available within the administration anyhow. Of course, data privacy regulations have to be observed during the entire planning process. The next step covers the analysis of the potential to reduce energy demand and supply fossil-free energy. Depending on the age and type of the building, thermal insulation can be applied. My intention is to focus on the differences between the cuities: Depending on the structure of the companies in the city, the potential to use excess heat is different. At least the sewage pipes and wastewater treatment plants are a valuable source of energy in each municipality. The use of renewable energies mainly depends on the available space, i.e., for large solar thermal and PV installations close to the municipality, and the access to environmental heat sources. Based on the status quo and the potentials analysis, a scenario for the whole city's CO 2 -neutral heat consumption is then developed. It covers the demand for residential buildings and the need for industry, including process heat. Boundary conditions concerning the availability and price of green electricity and green gas also have to be observed. As a result, the municipality obtains a city map, showing neighborhoods suitable for district heating, areas for heat pumps, and some buildings where biomass is an appropriate energy source. In any case, we expect the potential for district heating to be severalfold of today's level. The final step of the planning process is a local strategy for the transition of the heating sector. How will the city reach its targets within the given 30 years? This transformation strategy describes concrete measures necessary to become carbon neutral by 2050, at the latest.
For further information please contact: Volker Kienzlen, volker.kienzlen@kea-bw.de
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