Gilching approves a 5.6 million euro loan for the expansion of the heating network

Created: 05/25/2022, 13:03

Jan Haas from the Gilching municipal works informed interested citizens about the possibility of using district heating during a renovation tour of the town at the end of March.

The municipality is now making a contribution to expanding the district heating network.

© Michael Straub

Gilching - At its meeting on Tuesday, the Gilching municipal council approved a loan of 5.6 million euros for the Gilching municipal works.

It serves to further expand the heating network in the community.

The amount can be accessed in tranches up to 2029, the municipality informed in a press release.

The district heating supply is operated with regenerative energies and is therefore climate-friendly.

Hot water from deep geothermal energy is preferred, but the use of regional woodchips in combination with air and water heat pumps is also possible.

Heat transition is the greatest lever for the energy transition

The heat in the first, already completed construction phase is currently being generated from wood pellets in an interim solution.

"The heat transition is the greatest lever for the energy transition and thus for the urgently needed climate protection," explains project manager Jan Haas of the Gilching municipal utilities when presenting the current project status.

"Due to the dramatic current development on the energy market, such as the impending gas shortage and the exploding prices for oil, gas and coal, there are further good reasons for district heating," he emphasizes and adds: "Gilchinger district heating is produced with local, renewable energy.

This means that we are largely independent of energy imports - the supply is secure.

And the price development on the energy market no longer affects us directly." The decision of the municipal council in 2016,

Good perspective for homeowners and also for renters

“We already have an answer to the dramatic developments on the energy market and are working on implementing it.

This means we are further along than some other municipalities,” says Klaus Drexler, Board Member of the Gilching Municipal Utilities.

However, one cannot use witches;

the expansion takes time and is also becoming more expensive due to current developments.

"Steel district heating pipes, for example, cost significantly more than they did a year ago - because of the increased energy prices for their production and the disruption to supply chains caused by the corona pandemic and Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine." This is also having an impact on heat prices for new customers in Gilching: In mid-May, the municipal utilities therefore had to raise their prices to 87 euros per megawatt hour.

The prices for existing customers remain unchanged.

They are fixed for more than 10 years.

They are only subject to the fixed price escalation clauses.

“The jumps in oil and gas prices are far higher;

the development of fossil energies can no longer be predicted,” informs Klaus Drexler.

District heating from renewable energies

is not exposed to this dynamic in terms of operating costs.

As a 100 percent subsidiary of the municipality, the municipal utilities are not profit-driven.

"We are building up an economically justifiable district heating supply for the citizens and supplying it as cheaply as possible," says Klaus Drexler.

Phase 2 has already been advertised

Construction phase 2 of the heating network expansion is scheduled to start in July;

the services have been advertised, but no results are available yet.

In this sub-project, the municipal utilities establish the connection from the heating center in the East industrial park to Landsberger Strasse.

The route will be laid on Landsberger Strasse from the James-Krüss elementary school in the direction of the motorway.

Construction phase 3 is planned for 2023.

The Sonnenstraße and the town center will be developed for district heating." In the current situation, the expansion cannot go fast enough from the point of view of the citizens," reports Jan Haas and adds: "We are hurrying, but we cannot accelerate the expansion at will : The capacities of construction companies are limited, and the regulation of traffic at construction sites poses great challenges for a lively community like Gilching.

The everyday life of the citizens must work, that only allows a certain number of construction sites at the same time.”

Municipal utilities rely on energy from deep geothermal energy, as in Pullach and Freiham

For the energy supply, the municipal utilities, such as in Pullach or Freiham, rely on energy from deep geothermal energy.

To do this, they are negotiating with Silenos Energy Geothermie Gauting Interkommunal GmbH und Co. KG.

The company wants to pump hot water near Oberpfaffenhofen Airport.

The approval process for the deep geothermal wells is ongoing.

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17 buildings are already connected, over 1000 are planned

17 buildings are currently connected to the heating network.

The network currently covers two kilometers.

By the year 2050, the Gilching municipal works want to have built a heating network that is around 31 kilometers long and supply more than 1,000 connections with climate-neutral heat.

More information at the Gilching Environment Day on May 29th

The municipality of Gilching is holding its Environment Day on Sunday, May 29th.

The Gilching municipal works will also be represented there with a stand and will provide information about the district heating project and the heat products.

Right next door, the deep geothermal energy company Silenos Energy Geothermie Gauting is presenting the topic of "heating transition through deep geothermal energy" and the inter-municipal project Gilching / Gauting.