In the future, the Elbe will not only shape the cityscape of Dresden, but will also help with heating. The utility company SachsenEnergie is planning a large heat pump with an output of 50 megawatts. The large-scale project is scheduled to be completed in 2031 and will then supply up to 45,000 households with district heating.
The energy transition presents many cities and energy suppliers with major challenges. But at the same time it also opens up new ways of generating energy in order to promote the phase-out of fossil fuels.
In many areas, regional and renewable energy sources are increasingly becoming the focus. In Dresden, too, such a project should help to make the heat supply more climate-friendly and independent in the long term.
Here, the municipal utility SachsenEnergie is planning a large heat pump with an output of 50 megawatts. This is intended to promote the decarbonization of district heating with the help of river water from the Elbe.
Dresden: Large heat pump generates heat for up to 45,000 households
The major project on the Elbe is currently still in its infancy, but is expected to convert the heat from the Elbe water into district heating from 2031. To this end, the municipal utility SachsenEnergie wants to install a 50 megawatt river water heat pump that can generate around 16 percent of the district heating required by Dresden.
To do this, the large-scale system extracts thermal energy from the Elbe water and converts it into CO2-free heat that can be used in households. The heat pump removes around 2.5 cubic meters of water from the river every second.
After the conversion process, this is completely returned to the river at around three degrees Celsius less. Since the amount withdrawn is approximately one percent of the total amount of water in the Elbe, the slight cooling of the water used in the Elbe is not noticeable, according to SachsenEnergie.
Major project aims to decarbonize district heating in Dresden
According to the municipal utility, almost half of all households in Dresden are connected to the district heating network. They consume around 1,700,000 megawatt hours of thermal energy every year. The river water heat pump is expected to generate around 300,000 megawatt hours of heat from 2031 and can therefore supply up to 45,000 households with district heating. For this purpose, the municipal utility SachsenEnergie is investing around 92 million euros in investment costs, around a third of which will be covered by federal funding for efficient heating networks.
The large heat pump with an output of 50 megawatts will be housed at Dresden’s Marienbrücke in a specially designed building. This building for the facility will be 18 meters high, 50 meters long and 35 meters wide.
With this major project, the energy supplier wants to use domestic energy sources in the future and thus replace heat generation based on natural gas. This is possible more consistently with a river water heat pump than with air, as the water temperature is much more constant throughout the day. This is also possible in winter, apart from very cold winter months with very low water temperatures.
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