Municipal Heating Planing for the Wirges municipal association

Project Structure and Workflow

As part of the project, a comprehensive baseline analysis of all buildings to be supplied was first carried out. This covered heat consumption and heat demand figures, existing heating systems, and building-specific information such as type of use, construction year, and renovation status. A digital questionnaire was used to refine the data collection process.

Building on this, a potential analysis was conducted, identifying both energy savings through retrofitting and optimisation as well as locally available potentials for renewable energies and waste heat. These were visualised at area level to provide a well-founded basis for decision-making.

In the next step, the target scenario for municipal heat planning was developed. This includes a georeferenced representation of the future heat supply, designated areas suitable for decentralised individual supply and district heating networks, urban development policy objectives, and concrete proposed measures with brief descriptions. In addition, potential greenhouse gas reductions, a cost framework, and financing options were assessed.

The heat transition strategy outlines the path towards implementing the target scenario. To this end, heat sinks and sources were brought together, a transformation pathway was mapped out using reference years, and measures for short-term implementation were prioritised.

In addition to these technical work packages, the project partner EMCEL GmbH was responsible for public relations, stakeholder management and project management. Together with heatbeat and EMCEL, interactive workshops were held with local and regional stakeholders, during which interim results were presented and further developed collaboratively. The project concluded with the preparation of a report and a public information event.

Scope of Services

heatbeat's services included:

• Baseline analysis of all relevant buildings, including digital data collection

• Block-level modelling within the Digital Twin

• Potential analysis for building retrofits, renewable energies, and waste heat

• Development of a target scenario for municipal heat planning

• Support for strategic heat transition planning, including prioritisation of measures, interactive workshops for engaging local stakeholders, and preparation of a final report covering all key findings

Use of the Digital Twin

The heatbeat Digital Twin served as the central platform for visualising and analysing all project-related data. Through block-level mapping of building information and renewable energy potentials, a precise and transparent basis for decision-making was established. The Digital Twin also enabled georeferenced visualisation of the target scenario and supported the development of a realistic transformation pathway for the municipal heat transition.