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Innovative District Heating settings: Kozani’s “missing link” to the DH decarbonization 

 

As Kozani dive deeper in the innovative research on thermal energy storage for District Heating System, NEUTRON Pilot Cities Programme partners were actively participated on May 8th in Jülich at the 2nd Workshop, visiting also the multiTESS facility located at the Brainenergy Park which represents an interesting option for Kozani’s DHS boiler house peak thermal load demand.

 

The 2nd Workshop’s topic focused on the “missing link” in Kozani’s green transition, examining the best practices on thermal storage for district heating. The multiTESS facility which developed by Solar Institute Jülich (SIJ) at Aachen University of Applied Sciences along with industrial partners, could provide a working model for similar concepts such as Kozani’s NEUTRON. 

 

Partners’ input to the workshop helped both to the identification of Kozani’s DHS peculiarities and to the potential of the Green Heat Module, as NEUTRON’s aim is to make Kozani’s DHS boiler house independent of fossil fuels such as oil, as the first step to the decarbonization of Kozani’s DHS. 

 

The partners also discussed on the district heating financing, including project financing as well as private and public investment leveraging, under NZC’s experts on EU funding opportunities. 

 

The module could also be used to store waste-to-energy and sludge-to-energy (i.e., biogas) or waste heat from industrial processes, as well as feeding lower temperature heat into district heating networks, thus making this technology not only a model for the house space heating sector, but also a circular economy model for industrial settings. 

NEUTRON partners discussed on Thermal Energy Storage (TES) during the 2nd workshop in Jülich, May 8th, 2024. Kozani must find a way to wean itself off fossil fuels, including the natural gas. As the residential heating accounts for the highest share in energy consumption and GHG emissions, TES technologies such as the “Green Heat Module” could provide a solution for Kozani’s District Heating (DH). By providing high temperatures from thermal storage, it can be used for both residential and industrial setting achieving both the EU’s REPowerEU action plan goals and Kozani’s Climate City Contract goal for net-zero by 2030. Stuck in natural gas alternatives, Kozani’s DH will be fully exposed to the supply interruptions and price fluctuations during gas crises. Click the image below for more!

On Wednesday, December 13, the 1st Workshop of the NEUTRON project was held at the Koventareio Municipal Library of Kozani on the topic "Energy efficiency of Public Benefit Organizations and Kozani's path to Climate Neutrality".

 

The NEUTRON project, with the Kozani Municipality as lead partner, has been selected as a pilot project of the European Pilot Cities program within the EU 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

 

The project concerns the research on the substitution of the required energy of the peak boiler station of Kozani District Heating, by energy produced by RES in the context of the circular economy.

 

During the activities, the participants informed about the latest developments on the green District Heating systems. As at the core of the shift to the circular economy is the increase in resource efficiency, the selected guests highlighted the importance that the central goal of Kozani’s model is the production of services with fewer and more "green" resources.

 

The Workshop was open and addressed to all citizens while included presentations by selected guests, experts in the field of energy efficiency. The presentations covered issues surrounding the major issue of the sustainability of Kozani District Heating through new technologies as well as issues related to smart ways to save energy in the building sector.

 

After the presentations, there was an open round table discussion on energy efficiency, the participation of citizens in the actions to achieve climate neutrality, while at the same time student groups from the University of Western Macedonia were presented their ideas about climate neutrality and the digital transformation of Kozani. Click the image below for more!