‘What can the future energy supply in a new housing estate look like? This question was put to us by the municipality of Kressbronn,' recalls Matthias Weise, a lawyer from Meckenbeuren near Lake Constance in Germany. In the meantime, the municipality of Kressbronn and its project partners are already getting down to work: 120 new residential units, a children's and family centre, a medical centre and a residential and commercial property will be built near Lake Constance by 2025. If you want to find out more, come to the Sectors4Energy conference in Cologne on 2-3 July. A further 80 or so municipal flats and a new fire station and Red Cross centre will be built at a later date. The neighbourhood will be supplied 100 per cent by a highly efficient cold district heating network; the joint energy generation and supply network will achieve an electricity self-sufficiency rate of around 70 per cent. The more cost-effective photovoltaic electricity generated in the neighbourhood benefits the residents via a tenant electricity solution.
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A lot has happened to get to this point: Terra Consulting first carried out a preliminary study. One of the most important results of the study was that a centralised supply within the neighbourhood is more economical than a decentralised supply per household. Lisa Oechsle, project manager at Terra Consulting GmbH, recalls that her company was commissioned to analyse various supply options for the new development area. ‘And, as I said, it turned out that a centralised supply for a neighbourhood makes ecological and economic sense.’ A few years ago, everyone brought their own boiler into the house. ‘That's no longer the case today. There is now a central supply unit from where the heat is distributed to the whole area,’ explains Oechsle.
Lisa Oechsle is one of over 20 speakers and panellists who will be enriching the Sectors4Energy conference with exciting contributions.
Also interesting: A package for an almost fully solar-powered house
- Would you like to find out more about why a new development area should be thought of as a neighbourhood when it comes to energy supply?
- Do you want to understand what hurdles can arise during planning and how to avoid them?
- Do you want to learn more about cold local heating and its benefits?
