Heat transition on hold

13.03.2025

Source: E & M powernews

High costs, lack of specialists, lots of bureaucracy: according to a Fraunhofer survey, the Heat Planning Act is still having little effect in practice.

How challenging is heat planning for municipal utilities and local authorities? Researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for "Integrated Energy Systems" (Cines) have presented an "opinion survey from the field". They asked a total of 267 municipal players about heat planning. 44 percent of survey participants stated that no measures had been implemented to date. The main reason for this: "There is no municipal heating plan yet".

35 percent said that implementation had begun. The remaining participants did not know or did not provide any information. "Feasibility studies for heating networks" was the most common response, with 20 percent ticking this point in the questionnaire. 16 percent referred to "expansion and densification of heating networks", 14 percent to "renewable heat generation in heating networks". 11 percent highlighted "new construction of heating networks" as a measure.

Gas grids - an important asset for many municipal utilities - have hardly played a role in implementation to date. Around 4 percent of respondents stated that they were looking into "feasibility studies for the conversion of gas networks" or the "conversion of gas networks to hydrogen".

10 percent doubt the effectiveness

The survey revealed the high investment requirement as the biggest sticking point for the heating transition. On a scale of 1 ("not at all challenging") to 5 ("very challenging"), this point came in at 4.5, followed by the "availability of manpower" (4.3) and the lack of financial support (4.2). The bureaucracy associated with funding applications and approvals received an even 4 from municipal stakeholders.

They were positive about the suitability of municipal heat planning to achieve climate and energy targets. According to the Fraunhofer researchers, more than 75 percent rated it as "very or rather effective and suitable". Only 10 percent rated its effectiveness and suitability as "very or rather low".

The survey not only asked about the challenges, but also the "success factors". The experts illustrated the results in a two-dimensional matrix (see figure). Municipal utilities and local authorities rated "communication" as the most important success factor. This was followed by "data availability".

According to the researchers, communication between the stakeholders involved and the development of a common vision by them proved to be particularly critical in the area of process-related challenges. "Activating local stakeholders for heat planning and moderating their sometimes conflicting interests continues to be a challenging task in municipal heat planning," explained Anna Billerbeck, head of the study.

Tension between municipalities and municipal utilities

When comparing the responses of municipal administration employees with those of employees from municipal utilities and network operators, she and her colleagues observed that municipal utilities emphasized the challenges, while municipalities "emphasized the importance of the aspects surveyed". According to Billerbeck, this shows that those responsible for planning have a different perspective than those who have to implement the plan. "An area of tension that should be moderated with regard to the implementation of the planning." Billerbeck's conclusion: "Since heat planning became a mandatory municipal task on January 1, 2024, many municipalities are facing a major challenge."

According to the Fraunhofer Institute, the nationwide survey took place from July to September 2024. 35% of the responses came from Baden-Württemberg, 15% from North Rhine-Westphalia and 11% from Bavaria. The results were presented at a workshop in November 2024.

The report on the "Survey on municipal heat planning - assessments of success factors and obstacles" is available to download free of charge.

Author: Manfred Fischer