A new Polish-German project is aimed at delivering fully decarbonised district heating across the River Neisse, reducing up to 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, starting from 2030. More precisely, representatives from SEC Zgorzelec, Stadtwerke Görlitz, E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions (EIS), and Veolia Germany signed a letter of intent on December 2, to establish a joint project company to operate a cross-border district heating network, announced E.ON.
The 195 million euro project is named United Heat, and is planned to supply climate-neutral heat generated from solar thermal plants with seasonal storage, waste-water heat recovery, biomass, and power-to-heat systems. The goal is to cross the German-Polish border between Zgorzelec and the Görlitz Königshufen production site using a 3.8-kilometre pipeline, creating a total connection line of 12 kilometres. The joint venture will be responsible for both the construction and future operation of the cross-border pipeline.
The project has been in preparation for five years. United Heat has already secured 38 million euros from the EU’s CEF CB RES programme and also obtained an additional 81.6 million euros from Germany’s BEW federal funding for efficient heating networks.
“United Heat impressively demonstrates how partnership-based cooperation in Europe leads to groundbreaking results across national borders,” said Marten Bunnemann, CEO of E.ON Energy Infrastructure Solutions, according to the press release. “The project sets standards for how customer-oriented CO2-reduced energy supply can be implemented and will serve as a European flagship project for many other initiatives.”