Heat Plan Rostock 2035
30.05. 2022 | Reading time 5 min
30.05.2022 | Reading time 5 min
Our hometown, the City of Rostock aims to completely transform its district heating from fossil fuels to renewable energy and waste heat by 2035. We have accompanied the “Heat Plan Rostock 2035” project and developed concepts for secure supply.
Overview
Introduction
In German municipalities, the largest energy consumption typically occurs in the heating sector. For this reason, the heat transition is of particular importance. Here, there are significant levers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and take major steps towards becoming a climate-neutral municipality. At the same time, the heating sector poses great challenges in transforming to renewable supply.
The nationwide share of renewable energies in the heating sector is comparatively low. In 2021, the share of renewable energies in Germany’s total heat supply was just 16.5%. If heat is to become climate-neutral, there is much to be done.
Heat supply is a regional task, mostly the responsibility of municipal utility companies. At the same time, central questions arise in the responsibility of the city administration when transforming the heat supply. For the heat transition to succeed, it’s not only about heat provision but especially about energy savings. Here, the participation of large heat consumers, such as housing cooperatives, is of central importance.
To develop sophisticated concepts for the transformation of heat, consider the needs of all relevant actors, generate consensus and acceptance, a heat plan is necessary.
Heat Plan Rostock 2035
Following a city council resolution in 2020, the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock has set the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2035. Climate neutrality means transformation in all three sectors: electricity, heat, and mobility.
In 2019, the share of the heating sector in Rostock’s final energy consumption was nearly 60%. Consequently, transforming the heat supply is of central importance and offers great potential towards becoming a climate-neutral municipality.
For this reason, the Rostock Heat Plan was initiated and the “Heat Plan Project Group” was integrated as the steering body for Rostock’s heat transition. The task of the project group is to achieve consensus among all actors involved in heat supply and to develop reliable supply concepts as a basis for the heat transition.
The goal is to develop implementable, socially acceptable, sustainable, and supply-secure concepts for Rostock’s renewable heat supply.
As the group leader for sustainable energy conversion at LTT Rostock, I am a member of the project group, have the opportunity to accompany this exciting Heat Plan Rostock 2035 process, and contribute a central element of the heat plan together with my two co-founders.
The Transformation of Rostock's Heat Supply
Today, about half of Rostock’s heat supply is covered by district heating. The other half is supplied individually, primarily through natural gas. The district heating network is served by a gas and steam power plant at the Marienehe site and a coal-fired power plant in the overseas port, as shown in the following map.
Transformation of Rostock’s heat (left: current state, right: renewable supply). This map is for illustration purposes only. The location of future generation parks has not been finalized.
For the heat supply to become climate-neutral, it means moving away from fossil fuels. Heat supply from natural gas and hard coal must be transformed to renewable energies.
A major challenge lies in displacing individual heat supply with natural gas. At the same time, moving away from natural gas these days means supply security and price stability.
Unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, there is no suitable replacement for natural gas that is securely available in the high quantities required to replace natural gas and individual heat supply with natural gas in Rostock. Substitution with biomethane is ruled out due to the required quantities. Feeding green hydrogen into the natural gas network only succeeds up to about 25-30%, but does not meet the sustainability requirements compared to other approaches due to the poorer efficiency chain of the provision process.
Especially in highly dense areas, where individual renewable energy supply is hardly feasible, district heating will be of central importance. It serves to capture and distribute large environmental heat potentials and residual heat potentials from the urban area and immediate surroundings as needed. At the same time, the demand for renewable electricity is reduced.
The solution approach therefore consists of expanding district heating to replace natural gas and distribute heat from environmental potentials and waste as needed.
The contribution of Theta Concepts
As part of the heat plan, various partners prepared assessments to quantify energy potentials in the urban area. To meet sustainability requirements, only potentials within the city area and in the immediate vicinity were examined. In addition, assessments on heat demands and possible storage technologies were prepared.
Based on all assessments, the Theta Concepts team developed a dynamic model of Rostock’s heat supply, including future developments in heat demand. The model enables hourly analysis of heat supply throughout the year with the aim of analyzing various generator configurations. An exemplary result is shown in the following figure.
During the simulations, it was determined that various generator configurations ensure coverage of the projected demands. In total, five generator parks, considering waste heat potentials, large heat pumps, biogenic residues, and thermal energy storage, are able to cover the heat demand.
Each generator park combines advantages and disadvantages regarding investment and operating costs, security of supply, space requirements, and general feasibility against the background of infrastructural and structural conditions. The generator parks differed considerably in terms of these target parameters.
Nevertheless, there are also overlaps between the parks – potentials arising in the urban area that appear sensible in every scenario. They are the first steps towards climate neutrality and the target corridor for the next five years.
Outlook
The five generator concepts are a central component of the heat plan. In June 2022, the implementation of the heat plan was approved by the Rostock City Council. Now it’s time for implementation, and we look forward to accompanying the transformation.
Thank You
We thank the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock for the trust placed in us. At the same time, we would like to thank all our partners for the pleasant and very efficient cooperation. We look forward to the next challenges…
Dr.-Ing. Dorian Holtz
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