© Adobe Stock / Patrick P. Palej

District heating to ensure climate-neutral heat supply

Heating networks are considered key to the success of the heating transition and reaching climate targets. At the district heating summit in Berlin yesterday, a broad alliance argued in favour of a reliable framework and greater speed when it comes to restructuring and expansion.

The focus here is on transitioning from a grid-based heat supply to one that is based on renewable energy and unavoidable waste heat. This will secure a future supply of affordable, renewable heat and help the climate. For this reason, around 30 representatives from the heating, housing and construction sectors, industry, environmental and consumer protection, and trade unions met at the invitation of Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck and Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz. Yesterday, in a joint declaration (in German only), they pledged to speed up the restructuring and expansion of heating networks and reduce barriers.

Federal Minister Robert Habeck said, “Today’s summit sends a strong signal. Heating networks could be a particularly cost-efficient solution for supplying buildings, neighbourhoods and municipalities with climate-neutral heat. It is important to improve price transparency and thus consumer protection, and thereby make local and district heating more attractive.”

Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz also underlined the importance of planning security and transparency in the expansion of heating networks. “Through the municipal heating law that we are currently setting in motion, we want to make a significant contribution to this,” said Geywitz.

Heating networks make it possible to cover the demand for heat using central and sustainable sources, without having to install a new individual heating system. In 2022, around 6.1 million dwellings were supplied with district heating. This corresponded to around 14.2% of all dwellings. At present, the share of renewable energy in district heating is at around 20%. By 2030, half of the heat supply in German heating networks should be produced on a climate-neutral basis. The aim is to connect an additional 100,000 buildings per year to the district heating network.