24.05.2024
Source: Energie & Management Powernews
The city and Munich's municipal utilities have presented the "first version" of the heat planning. Deep geothermal energy plays a central role. Hydrogen network areas are not planned.
The Bavarian capital now has a heat plan in accordance with the Heat Planning Act. In mid-May, the city council approved a corresponding draft resolution by a large majority, which was drawn up by the city, Stadtwerke (SWM) and external experts. The 90-page document represents the "first version", the final heat plan is to be adopted this fall, "taking into account the comments submitted", according to the city administration.
As the "centerpiece" of the plan, the municipality has published a digital heat map that illustrates to Munich residents which renewable heat sources they can use in their "building block". According to the considerations, around 62 percent of SWM's heat supply in 2045 will be based on district heating. Heat pumps - environmental heat and electricity and local heating networks - will supply 33 percent. The planners expect around 4 percent of the heat-related energy requirement to be covered by biomass such as pellets. Climate-neutral gases, solar thermal energy and other solutions are only of marginal importance in the target scenario for 2045. Status quo in Munich: Every second building is still heated with oil or gas.
Despite population growth, the city expects energy demand for heating to fall by a quarter over the next 20 years. It currently amounts to 11.3 billion kWh and will therefore be around 8.7 billion kWh in 2045. Munich estimates the final energy requirement for new buildings in 2045 at 745 million kWh.
As far as the expansion of the district heating infrastructure is concerned, the plan shows that 54% of the population live in "district heating densification areas", with the corresponding proportion of buildings amounting to 29%. Around 11 percent of Munich residents live in district heating development areas (5 percent of buildings). Areas with decentralized heat supply" account for 42 percent of the population (48 percent of buildings). In these areas, preference should be given to groundwater heat pumps, followed by ground-coupled heat pumps and air heat pumps.
The aim of the city and SWM is to cover the heat demand predominantly from geothermal energy. Deep geothermal energy is to be greatly expanded. Together with large heat pumps and waste heat from waste incineration, deep geothermal energy will cover around 85 percent of the work required in future, according to the draft resolution. The remaining 15 percent will be supplied by supplementary peak load technologies, such as biomass or hydrogen.
The municipal utilities do not have hydrogen networks for the heat supply in mind. According to the paper, the main reasons for this are the lack of availability of green hydrogen and the high costs of using it in the gas distribution network. "Priority should be given to the use of hydrogen in sectors that do not have access to good alternatives - such as the decentralized heat supply in Munich." Parts of the industrial sector would be the main candidates. In the district heating supply, hydrogen is to be used to cover peak loads in central heating plants and heating stations from the middle or end of 2030.
Compulsory connection as a last resort
Compulsory connection and use in the district heating network is only seen as a "last resort" in Munich, which should be used with caution. The city and municipal utilities have obtained a legal opinion according to which an ABZ is "permissible and proportionate" under certain conditions. The authorization under federal law for an ABZ for climate protection reasons arises from Section 109 of the Building Energy Act (GEG) and the case law of the Federal Administrative Court on this subject, it says.
"General exemptions to the ABZ in an area can be more restrictive than in state law, especially with regard to so-called emission-free, decentralized heating systems that could undermine an ABZ," the city says. According to the legal experts, it is "permissible to also include existing buildings in an ABZ and not just new buildings and existing buildings in redevelopment areas", as is regulated in Bavarian state law. However, an ABZ may only be implemented for a "public" heating network. Properties with existing heating systems are exempt; the measure would only be permitted at the time of the heating system replacement.
Munich is confident that it can achieve the heating transition even without coercion: "The attractiveness of district heating is already providing a strong impetus for further district heating densification," write the city's departments for climate protection and economics.
The decision for the heating plan and the legal opinion on municipal heating planning have been published by the City of Munich on its website.
Author: Manfred Fischer
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