In the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg – one of the RES-DHC model regions – the legislator introduced a compulsory municipal heat planning for the 103 biggest cities. For the first time, cities have to develop their vision for a CO2-neutral heat supply in the year 2050. The Danish example was successfully adopted to German boundary conditions and a boost of district heating systems is expected.

Today, only a few cities have a clear vision of decarbonizing their heat sector within the coming decades. In Baden-Württemberg, the new climate protection law obliges all cities and towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants – 103 municipalities – to draft their vision of a fossil-free heat supply by 2050 by developing a roadmap. These cities and towns are home to 5.5 million people, i.e. half of the state’s population. The parliament finally adopted the amendment to the state’s climate protection law in October 2020. Baden-Württemberg paves the way towards a carbon-free heat supply of the cities and can be a role model for other European regions or states. Besides this obligation for the biggest cities, all 1,100 municipalities in Baden-Württemberg are required to submit their data on the energy consumption of the municipal building stock to an online database. This requirement intends to push municipalities towards effective energy management.

The Climate Protection and Energy Agency of Baden-Württemberg (“KEA-BW – Kompetenzzentrum Wärmewende”) supports and advises cities and municipalities for this purpose. KEA-BW recently published a guidebook for municipal heat planning which is available free via the link below.

For further information:
KEA-BW: https://www.kea-bw.de/waermewende
Heat planning guideline (German language): https://www.kea-bw.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/094_Leitfaden-Kommunale-Waermeplanung-bf.pdf

Source and full article: Hot|Cool – the International Magazine in district heating and cooling No. 4/2020 of the Danish Board of District Heating (DBDH), pp. 16-17.
Picture: Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, Baden-Württemberg