District Heating in Baden-Württemberg

The new climate law makes way for Danish companies in the district heating sector whose solutions are highly valued by the German utilities. The heat planning legislation is inspired by Danish experiences and is a result of the Danish Energy Agency’s work with the regional Government in Baden-Württemberg.

“The decision to initiate communal heat planning in Baden-Württemberg will offer great opportunities for Danish export of both knowledge and technology,” says Jakob Andersen,Team Leader of Energy, Environment and Industry. 

By contributing to the new climate law on communal heat planning in Baden-Württemberg, the Danish Energy Agency has opened up the market for our Dänische Fernwärme Alliance (DFA) to initiate projects with the local utilities in the 103 cities. 

Christian Bjerrum Jørgensen, Technical Advisor of DFA is excited about the progress: “As soon as the COVID-19 situation allows it, we will expand our work to the cities in Baden-Württemberg”. So far, the work with the alliance has consisted of webinars as well as hybrid workshops with three public utilities in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Two-way knowledge exchange was key, in order to discuss tailored solutions for the local district heating networks. “Through technical workshops with the local utilities, we will share our experiences on Danish solutions, so the cities have the best conditions for making successful heat planning,” Jørgensen elaborates.

Over the summer and early fall, the 10 pioneering companies in DFA brought their newest technologies and best practices within district heating to public utilities all over Germany. “We already have success with the initiation of the DFA-platform and I’m pleased to see the potential of our collaboration with the Danish Energy Agency unfold,” Jakob Andersen continues.

The DFA is already planning a follow-up on the new market opportunities with a number of inspiring, project-oriented technical workshops at utilities in Baden-Württemberg that will be executed as soon as the circumstances allow it. 

However, the project pipeline also holds activities in Bavaria, the wealthiest German State: “We experience great interest from Danish companies in doing business with Bavaria, and we are getting closer to important stakeholders every day,” Andersen says.

Dänische Fernwärme Allianz (DFA) is a partnership between the Trade Council of Denmark, the Danish Energy Agency and the Danish district energy industry, currently consisting of 10 pioneering Danish companies covering the full value chain of district energy. The objective of the alliance is creating a platform for collaboration and knowledge sharing between Denmark and Germany on innovation and decarbonization of district heating and cooling.

Read the (Danish) press release from the Danish Energy Authorities here. 

For inquiries regarding the DFA, contact Thomas Vikner on [email protected].