Source: Energy & Management Powernews , December 01 2022
On November 30, the German government presented key points for a nationwide municipal heat planning. Municipal companies welcome the technology openness in it.
The municipal heat planning (KWP) is to be a central coordination tool for the decentralized heat transition. In addition, it is to create in the future the investment security for the necessary development of infrastructure, especially for heat networks, but also for gas and electricity grids. The German government therefore wants to introduce it across the board. In some countries like Baden-Wuerttemberg and Schleswig-Holstein the obligation to the KWP already applies.
Municipalities starting from 10,000 to 20,000 inhabitants are to be obligated to make such a planning. The heat plans to be prepared should in the future
- consist of an inventory analysis,
- a potential analysis,
- target scenarios
- and an action strategy.
The municipalities are to be authorized by the federal law to request the necessary data, for example, from energy suppliers, chimney sweeps or even companies.
The range of tasks within the heat planning should be broad: This includes
- the preparation of heat registers,
- the accompaniment of the heat network expansion,
- the decarbonization of existing networks,
- the securing of areas for energy production and for energy storage
- as well as concepts for the redevelopment of public buildings.
Since April 2022, a Competence Center Municipal Heat Turnaround (KWW) in Halle an der Saale advises municipalities on the implementation. The competence center is established and operated by the German Energy Agency (Dena) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWK)
Widespread approval from utilities
"The heat turnaround will be implemented locally," commented Kerstin Andreae, chief executive of the industry association BDEW, on the key points of the federal government. "Every house, every municipality, every region is different," Andreae reminded. Therefore, she said, it is right for the federal government to leave the concrete implementation of the heat transition to the municipalities, which know the local conditions best. The BMWK and the Federal Ministry of Construction had presented the key points for a "Federal Law on Municipal Heat Planning". It is to serve as a framework for corresponding state laws.
"It is central that the federal government does not exclude any technology from the outset that can bring climate-neutral heat into homes in the future," praised Andreae. In addition to the massive ramp-up of heat pumps and district or local heating networks with increased use of waste heat, she said, further use of the gas network - transformed into a hydrogen network - is necessary. This, he said, was also underlined by a bottom-up study presented this week by the National Hydrogen Council.
In addition, he said, bureaucracy must be kept low and requirements must be implementable. Infrastructure operators should only have to provide data that is truly necessary, available to them, and that they are allowed to release without violating data protection, Andreae cautioned.
Do not set quotas that are too rigid
The KWP should be closely intertwined with other authoritative initiatives, laws, and support programs, such as the transformation plans for heat grids and the 65 percent renewable share for new heating systems, he said. "On the other hand, quotas for renewables and waste heat in heating networks that are too rigid and fixed should be rejected," the BDEW boss explained.
The federal states, which are responsible for the precise design of the future framework law, should proceed coherently so that there are no massive differences in KWP and it can also be implemented in an economically viable manner. "The federal government should therefore get the states on board at an early stage," Andreae advised. "The energy suppliers, as central players in implementation, are ready to support the municipalities in municipal heating planning."
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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