Lots of citizens informed themselves about the e-con local heating network for Steinheim.
e-con shows how local heating works: Citizen information event in Steinheim meets with lively interest
Specialist in renewable energy supply carries out the project
There was a large crowd: Numerous citizens came to the village community center to find out about the planned local heating network in the district and the connection options. e-con is developing a local heating network in the community, which in the future will be able to supply all households in the community of around 3,000 inhabitants with heat from renewable energy.
Why should a community decide in favor of its own local heating network? What are the benefits for the residents? And how does the plan become a functioning heating operation? Questions like these were answered on February 8 at the Steinheim village community center. As a partner for the energy turnaround, the e-con from Memmingen had organized together with the energy team Steinheim consisting of: Nicole and Hartmut Grimmer, Peter Hieber, Stefan Kaiser, Klaus Kern, Franz Neukamm, Matthias Rehklau, Sibille Schneider, Andre Unold and Wilhelm Wekwart invited. Many interested citizens came to learn more about the project.
After the development of RELIUS Farbenwerke GmbH on 01.01.2023, there is now the possibility to convert all 900 households in Steinheim to climate-friendly and sustainable local heating and to become part of a resource-saving heating network. The self-produced heat flows through a network that is around 1 kilometer long and comes from the e-con biomass heating plant in Memmingen. In addition to Relius, 14 other industrial and commercial customers and a residential area are already connected to the network. In a next step, Steinheim households will benefit. In this way, more than 4,600 tons of CO2 can be saved and around 1.75 million liters of heating oil can be substituted per year.
The first construction phase of the heat line runs from Heimertinger Strasse to the intersection of Egelseer Strasse and Rotreiserstrasse, as well as all adjacent streets in this area. Work will begin shortly. This will also give private consumers the chance to become less dependent on fossil fuels and to rely on sustainable and regional value creation.
The heart of the heat supply in Memmingen’s industrial park is the heating plant of e-con AG, which has been supplying heat to the companies in the industrial park for 13 years without any problems. It has an output of around 17 megawatts. The central component of the energy supply is the 3.3 megawatt woodchip boiler, which covers most of the total heat demand from the renewable fuel wood. For this purpose, waste wood, landscape maintenance material and forest residues are used, which can only be thermally utilized. Consumption peaks are covered by two peak load boilers using redundant gas and oil firing. In addition, electricity for the heating plant is generated by a highly efficient combined heat and power plant. The waste heat from this process is also used in the heating network.
e-con, which initiated the sustainable and climate-friendly project together with committed citizens, is responsible for the investment, maintenance, servicing and also the operation of the heating center and the distribution network. “With this project, Steinheim becomes less dependent on fossil fuels and makes an enormous contribution to climate protection. The concept of regional value creation at an affordable price is a complete success at this point – sustainable, economical and secure supply,” says Thilo Bär, project manager at e-con.
For Steinheimer and Steinheimerinnen, which can be attached to the local heat net, the advantages are clear: The subscribers do not have to worry any longer about the fuel procurement, boiler maintenance, chimney cleaning or environmental protection regulations. There is no need to install their own heating system. There is no need for advance financing of fuels, and local heating is stable in price. Experience shows that fluctuations in the energy market have only a minor effect. The CO2 tax, subsidies and the various full costs of the heating systems were shown as examples. A complete house connection with a transfer station up to 20 kW and a connection length up to 15 meters is offered at a base price of 17,000€ in the first construction phase until the end of 2024.
“With the local heating network, we are creating a good opportunity to switch heat supply. Local heating is sustainable and offers great cost advantages. It usually makes more sense to tackle such a project as a whole community than for each household to invest individually in a new technology,” clarifies Klaus Kern as a member of the local energy team.
It is also possible to have only a partial connection laid to the building in the first step, so that a house connection can be activated at a later time without any problems. This is recommended not only for owners of fossil-fuel heating systems, but also for those who want to remain flexible in the future. Last but not least, in addition to all the practical aspects, there would always be the good feeling of doing something for the environment and thus for the next generations with climate-friendly heating.
The next step will be to collect the survey forms (existing buildings and new buildings) from the citizens who are interested in switching to renewable heat. As a follow-up, personal consultation meetings will be scheduled in the first construction phase. The fixed consultation dates in the first construction phase are every Monday 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and every Wednesday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m..
In order to be able to start with the concrete planning of individual streets, e-con is still dependent on receiving the survey forms from the citizens.
If you have any questions, please contact our partner Ingenieurbüro Köck&Partner from Kempten (0174/4185369). Further information, as well as the survey form can be found on the website: www.nahwaerme-steinheim.de