On the occasion of the CoolHeating Kick-off-Meeting, the consortium visited three good practice examples in Germany: a low-temperature micro heating grid, a district heating grid with solar and seasonal heat storage, and finally a biomass based (biogas, woodchips) micro-heating grid.

 

Site visit 1: Solar District Heating “Am Ackermannbogen”

The district heating of 320 households with 45% solar thermal energy and a seasonal storage is realized in the solar disrtict heating project “Am Ackermannbogen” in Munich. The operator of the system explained how the system works which includes solar collectors on multi-apartment houses, a seasonal storage system and a heat pump. The system is furthermore connected to the district heating system of Munich in order to supply heat in case the storage is discharged.
More information (in German):
https://www.energieatlas.bayern.de/thema_sonne/solarthermie/praxisbeispiele/details,197.html

Site visit 2: Low temperature district heating “Dollnstein”
Recently, an innovative low-temperature district heating grid was set-up in Dollnstein. The system supplies 40 households and public buildings with thermal energy. The system includes solar collectors, a heat pump, a LPG CHP unit and heat storage systems. The system is innovative as the temperature level of the heated water in the system in summer is rahter low (20-25°C)
More information (in German):
https://www.energieatlas.bayern.de/kommunen/praxisbeispiele/details,583.html

Site visit 3: District heating with biomass
The agricultural biogas plant of Ulrich Bader in Sochenberg uses surplus heat in a small district heating system to supply about 80 households. For peak load, a woodchip boiler and an oil boiler is available. Surplus heat in summer is used to dry woodchips.

Besides the knowledge exchange between the CoolHeating partners and the plant operators, potential future cooperation opportunities were investigated.