Local heating network for new urban quarter in Stuttgart

23.07.2025

Source: E & M powernews

A new urban quarter in Stuttgart-Rot is to be supplied with climate-neutral heat. Two building cooperatives are relying on a local heating network with heat pumps.

In Rot, a district in the north of Stuttgart, a new quarter with around 220 rental apartments is being built, which is to be supplied with heat completely CO2-free. Stadtwerke Stuttgart GmbH is building a local district heating network based on air-to-water heat pumps, fed with electricity from photovoltaic systems. The project is being realized together with "Baugenossenschaft Zuffenhausen eG" and "Neues Heim - Die Baugenossenschaft eG". Both companies are based in Stuttgart and operate cooperative housing construction there.

According to the company, the investment sum of the municipal utilities amounts to 2 million euros. In addition, subsidies amounting to 800,000 euros will flow from the "Federal Subsidy for Efficient Heating Networks (BEW)" program. As the partners announced in a joint press release on July 22, the new network will take over the entire heat supply of the district in future - without fossil fuels. Stadtwerke Stuttgart has set itself the goal of supplying around 40,000 residential units with climate-neutral heat by 2035. The project on Rotweg in Rot is part of this strategy.

Reliable supply thanks to PV power and buffer storage

The district's energy center is based on several air-to-water heat pumps. These extract heat from the ambient air, which is used for heating and hot water. The system is supplemented by a buffer storage tank that stores heat at night when demand is low. In the morning hours, when heating and hot water are required at the same time, the stored energy is fed back into the grid.

The electricity for operating the heat pumps is generated by PV systems on the roofs of the buildings. There are no plans to feed it into the public grid - the PV systems are used to supply the energy center itself.

The new quarter on Rotweg is part of the International Building Exhibition 2027 (IBA '27). A model project for contemporary living is now being built on the site, where cooperative housing was already being built in the late 1940s. According to the companies involved, the plans include traditional rental apartments as well as residential care communities, low-barrier units and an inclusive daycare center. There will also be communal areas, catering facilities and commercial uses.

The foundation stone for the quarter was laid in May 2025. Stadtwerke plans to start work on the heating network in late fall. The quarter should be ready in time for the IBA in 2027.

Author: Davina Spohn