Ludwigsburg relies on district heating: Interactive side informs citizens!

Ludwigsburg relies on district heating: Interactive side informs citizens!

In Ludwigsburg, a lot is happening in terms of district heating: Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg-Kornwestheim (SWLB) actively campaign for the expansion of the district heating networks and have now launched an informative heat weaving page. This platform, which recently went online, aims to motivate the citizens and to bring the advantages of district heating closer to them. According to the Bietigheimer Zeitung Interactive map can not only recognize existing district heating networks in red, but also view planned extensions in blue and orange that should be completed by 2029.

Currently the Ludwigsburg district heating network comprises a total of 80 kilometers and already supplies 1683 households. In the current year, further blue lines that mark the upcoming expansion are to expand the supply region. Despite these progress, the heat volume of around 100 gigawatt hours supplied by the municipal utilities unfortunately only covers about 12% of the total heat of the municipality.

The heat transition as a common goal

The initiative for a comprehensive heat transition is not just a task of the municipal utility. The city pursues a long-term and strategic concept for municipal heat planning, which is binding as part of the Baden-Württemberg Climate Protection Act. The complete planning is to be published by the year 2023/2024, while the specific implementation is already in the starting blocks. The city primarily wants to massively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which mainly develop from heating energy and hot water. In fact, the thermal hardships in Ludwigsburg caused around 222,660 tons of greenhouse gases in 2020.

The Stadt Ludwigsburg has high goals: until 2035, the greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced and the heat requirement is to be reduced by 41%. The greatest hope lies in the use of renewable energy sources such as wastewater heat, river water heat, geothermal energy and solar thermal energy. Over the next five years, the city is already planning several concrete measures to achieve these goals.

legal framework and implementation

From January 1, 2024, German municipalities are legally obliged to submit detailed heat planning. The new heat planning law (WPG) should help to achieve the necessary switch to renewable energies by 2045 - not an easy task for many communities. In Baden-Württemberg, 13% of the municipalities have already completed their planning, while other federal states are ahead of this. Some municipalities fight with delays due to a shortage of skilled workers and high costs.

according to the Climate protection municipality are actively involved in creating their heat plans, which indicates increasing awareness of the climate protection-promoting dealings with energy. Ludwigsburg takes a great step into the future with clear goals and measures. The connection to the district heating network remains voluntary, but is recommended due to the environmental impact and cost efficiency of experts.

The comprehensive information offers and the interactive map of the SWLB are a step in the right direction to actively involve the citizens in the heat transition. In this sense, it remains exciting how the plans can be implemented in practice and how the population reacts to it.