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Currently, the heat supply in Germany predominantly relies on the burning of fossil fuels. Almost half of German households still heat using natural gas, another quarter using heating oil. District heating networks play a key role on the road to greenhouse gas neutrality.

They tap into climate-friendly heat sources that cannot be used via the decentralised heating systems in buildings, including deep geothermal energy, which can supply high-temperature heat all year round, on a reliable basis and in any weather, as well as industrial waste heat. In urban areas in particular, heat networks are often the best way to get away from oil-fired and gas-fired heating systems. In rural areas especially, new climate-friendly local heat networks are also emerging and replacing fossil-fuel space heating systems.

€3 billion up to 2026 for renewable heat production

The federal funding for efficient heating networks backs the building of new heat networks where renewable energy and waste heat sources will constitute a share of at least 75%, as well as the decarbonisation of existing networks. Also, funding is going towards expanding heat networks and making them more dense – a key challenge for energy policy in this decade as it tries to connect more households to district heating and use its potential.

Making use of the potential of geothermal energy and waste heat

The federal funding for efficient heating networks is also to massively increase the use of geothermal energy to replace fossil fuels. Much more waste heat from industry and commerce that would otherwise be released into the environment unused is to be fed into heat networks. And large-scale heat pumps, which can feed into heat networks with a high output, are also a key technology for green heating. They can take ambient heat and use it at a temperature which is suitable for heat networks. The ambient heat is derived for example from water bodies, from the waste heat (of less than 100 C) from computer centres and from food production.