Bamberg leads the way: Heat transition in the neighborhood

12.05.2026

What will the heat supply of tomorrow look like? The "Heat 4.0" cluster meeting at the Lagarde Campus Bamberg offered exclusive insights into innovative heating network solutions and provided valuable impetus for the municipal and urban heating transition.

75 participants, including around 20 trade press representatives, experienced how innovative heating networks are planned, built and operated in a sustainable and economical way at the Heat 4.0 cluster meeting on the Lagarde Campus Bamberg on May 7, 2026.

The Lagarde Campus district with around 1,200 apartments for around 2,500 residents relies on a cold local heating network with a multi-source approach, in which several renewable heat sources are intelligently combined: near-surface geothermal energy, wastewater heat, heat pump technologies and seasonal storage.

The project is an example of how a sector-coupled, low-carbon heat supply can be implemented economically in urban districts.

Our sincere thanks go to the host company, Stadtwerke Bamberg, who made this event possible in the first place.

Key messages from the speakers:

• The heating transition is decided in the neighborhood. Municipalities, energy suppliers and project developers are faced with the task of implementing climate-neutral, economical and scalable heating solutions.
• There is no single solution for an optimal heating network. An individual solution is planned depending on the circumstances, such as building density, the condition of the buildings, the use of renewable electricity and storage, etc. This solution can be adapted to changing conditions. This can even change again during the course of the project if the framework conditions change.
• The legal framework and subsidies should be as clear as possible and not change in a short space of time in line with political or media moods. Facts that speak for the use of heat pumps must not be ignored. Renewable projects only have planning security if the goal of climate neutrality is consistently pursued.
• Certain risks must always be taken with forward-looking heating network solutions. The motto is: "Just do it!" However, this requires courageous decision-makers and committed project managers as well as a well-founded energy concept with clever profitability planning. Fortunately, the Lagarde Campus Bamberg flagship project met all these requirements.

Technological knowledge, networking and impetus for innovation

After the welcome address (Katrin Schiller, Cluster Energietechnik Bayern Innovativ; Sven Pienitz, Stadtwerke Bamberg), the program began with an engaging and expert introduction to the concept of cold local heating (Prof. Volker Stockinger, TH Nuremberg), followed by a focus on the pioneering multi-source concept of the Lagarde Campus (Stefan Loskarn, Stadtwerke Bamberg; Oliver Jainta, BUILD.ING).

After a tour of the district's energy facilities, the discussion, moderated by Mr. Gregor Dilger from the Geothermal Energy Association, focused on the topics "Use of heat pumps in cold grids" (Andrea Wimmer, AIT Group), "Sector coupling as the key to a successful heat transition" (Thomas Vogel, zeitgeist engineering) and the most important funding opportunities for districts and innovative heating solutions (Markus Weber, Ife at OTH Amberg-Weiden)

The players from the energy technology cluster took away a lot of practical knowledge from the event and numerous lessons for their own heating planning from project manager Stefan Loskarn. Of course, there were also many networking discussions. We hope that the event provided plenty of new impetus for innovative heating projects and are already looking forward to the next event on the topic of large heat pumps and wastewater utilization, which is currently being planned for July.