Guidelines on community-led heating and cooling

Heating and cooling technologies

Waste heat

Reusing the heat that comes from certain industrial processes adds circularity to a process that would otherwise remain inefficient. Furthermore, putting this thermal energy in the hands of citizens through an energy community ensures that the fate of the industrial process is democratically decided. In addition, under a district heating and cooling system, should the source of waste heat no longer be available in some years, the energy community can replace the source of thermal energy (waste heat) for another one, such as PV coupled with industrial heat pumps, or geothermal, as a district H&C system allows for a large variety of thermal sources.

 

Example

Warmte Verzilverd in Belgium – a cooperation of the energy communities Ecopower and ZuidtrAnt, and the traditional market actor Kelvin Solutions – carries out their heating and cooling activities by recovering the heat from the industrial process of a nearby company, Agfa Gevaert. The company used to make film roles for cameras, but now mainly produce X-ray films for hospitals. The chemical process of making the film creates a lot of waste heat, so the energy community supplies this heat through their district heating network. Out of this waste heat, 50% is consumed by the company Agfa Gevaert itself, whereas the other 50% is redirected to homes and local SMEs, aiming to cover 4 SMEs and 340 households by 2026.

 

Example

Energent in Belgium also has a community-led heating and cooling project based on industrial residual heat, and residual heat from waste water. As co-investor and shareholder of the Ducoop project, the cooperative Energent will provide H&C services to the residents of Nieuwe Dokken from waste water, and a company that produces soaps and detergents. In addition, they will install a smart grid with PV production, as well as a central battery and smart control systems.

As they started their collaboration with the industrial site, 7% of the company in question was purchased by the cooperators of Energent. From this waste heat, they offer renewable H&C to 340 dwellings.

 

Does your energy community use waste heat, and you would like to see it in these Digital Guidelines? Send an email to info@energycommunityplatform.eu.