The energy transition goes beyond the electricity sector. Green Wind is thinking ahead and advancing the heating transition. We act as a partner for municipalities that are facing the challenge of the regional heating transition and offer solutions in the form of municipal heating planning services. We are already working in the Schorfheide municipality in the state of Brandenburg. We also offer expert knowledge and solutions to businesses and districts for their heating transformation as well as the supply of energy from 100% renewable energies in general. We are currently working on a project that involves developing an energy concept for the Marienfliess monastery in Brandenburg.

These are two of the various contracts and ideas that Jacob Fengler (photo) and his colleagues are currently implementing and pursuing in project development in the context of our “green heat” subject area.

Great potential in the heat sector

While Jacob, who is our man for heat planning on the basis of green energy, was born in Berlin, he feels just as much at home in the beautiful Uckermark region. The combination of innovation and energy has been part of his life since his school days. His master’s thesis, which he wrote in the field of energy engineering at RWTH Aachen University, was entitled “Techno-economic analysis of heat supply based on 100% renewable energy.” It soon became clear “what tremendous potential lies in the heat sector and what major tasks are involved in its transformation. Roughly 50 percent of final energy in Germany is used for heat, and 80 percent of this amount is generated from fossil energy sources. We want to change that!”

Municipal heat planning in Schorfheide

Green Wind has been responding actively to requests for proposal relating to municipal heat planning since 2023. At the beginning of the year, Green Wind Innovation signed its first municipal heat planning contract for the Schorfheide municipality. The project is scheduled to be completed on August 31, 2024. Since the German Heat Planning Act came into force on January 1, 2024, municipal heat planning has been a mandatory task for every municipality and the first step in the coordinated transformation to climate-neutral heat supply by 2045 The most important phases are: 1. stock-taking, 2. analysis of potential, 3. scenario development, 4. heat transformation strategy, 5. stakeholder involvement and public relations work.

Energy concepts for districts and businesses

The purpose of energy concepts (electricity and heat) is to enable the gradual transition to an independent and sustainable energy supply. The greatest challenge in this connection always lies in reconciling the local framework conditions with the requirements for energy supply. These challenges are solved by means of optimization in system modeling, which provides an individual transformation plan.

This type of energy concept is being developed for the historical Marienfliess monastery, where we are encountering particular challenges such as monument protection and outdated heating technology. The first step involves a monument protection review and analysis of potential for the thermal use of the neighboring Stepenitz river by means of a river heat pump.