As of: February 5, 2024, 9:00 a.m
By: Timo Aichele
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186 hectares along the motorway are privileged for open-space photovoltaic systems.
According to the study, not even a third of it would have to be used to achieve the goals of the energy usage plan.
© IFE / City of Dorfen
The cadastre shows where heat is needed in Dorfen.
© IFE / City of Dorfen
Dorfen - There is a setback for the municipal utilities.
A new energy usage plan shows new potential.
The energy transition is shaking – even in Dorfen.
The municipal utilities are not building a local heating network in Oberdorfen after all.
Too many interested parties have dropped out.
“We would have liked to invest four million euros here and build our own heating network,” reports managing director Klaus Steiner in an interview with the local newspaper.
But after the turn of the year, the affected citizens were informed about the end.
“For now, that’s done for us.”
“It was all very euphoric last year,” says Steiner.
But then came the price explosions.
“The costs of expanding the pipes have quadrupled.” A huge problem was also the poor communication of the Building Energy Act and the subsequent political debate.
“Many people were persuaded to have a gas heater installed at the last minute or built biomass heaters.
“The project was dead,” complains the energy manager.
Price explosions are one thing, but Steiner is concerned about the social mood when it comes to energy.
“The thing that brings us forward is the expansion of renewable builders.” This transformation is unavoidable. Without ground-mounted photovoltaic systems and wind turbines, nothing would work.
The negative referendum in Mehring for ten wind turbines in the middle of Bavaria's chemical triangle elicits a deep sigh from Steiner.
“People have forgotten that prosperity doesn’t come for free.” Because a lot of energy is needed in this industrial area in the southeast, and such infrastructure projects are essential.
“We seem to have lost the ability to show solidarity,” says Steiner.
For Dorfen, he is more optimistic about the future.
In addition to major challenges, the energy usage plan that is now available contains some positive messages.
The Institute for Energy Technology (IfE) at the TH Amberg-Weiden developed it on behalf of the city of Dorfen - and has now presented it to the environmental committee.
“We’re not that bad when it comes to rooftop photovoltaic systems,” says Steiner when looking at the study.
The IfE analyzes the potential for 2040 – the year in which the Free State should be.
According to the energy usage plan, 28 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity could then be produced on the roofs in Dorfen.
Systems with an output of 16.6 million kWh are already installed today.
“Dorfen has an above-average proportion of rooftop PV systems,” judges the IfE.
Ground-mounted photovoltaic systems have even greater potential in the huge municipal area of Dorfen.
The IfE sees a production of 56 million kWh as possible for 2040.
So far it is 600,000 kWh - but the trend is rising steeply.
Applications for systems that could produce 30 million kWh have already been submitted.
“The path isn’t that far anymore,” reports Steiner.
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In the IfE scenario for 2040, 0.75 percent of the agricultural land in Dorfen would have to be used for this, i.e. 56 hectares.
The areas along the motorway that are privileged for these purposes alone are 186 hectares in size in the Dorfener Gäu.
“That exposes many discussions about this as purely sham debates,” concludes Steiner.
What is now crucial is the expansion of the substation in Unterstollnkirchen.
Most of the electricity generated in Dorfen has to be fed into the grid, and the capacity in Unterstollnkirchen is currently not sufficient for this.
“That’s the bottleneck.” Feed-in commitments for systems with an output greater than 100 kW peak are therefore currently not possible.
In order to change that, the municipal utilities are in intensive discussions with the network operator, Bayernwerke.
It will probably take two to three years until the expansion is implemented, said Steiner.
Back to the heat transition, which has now suffered such a severe setback in Oberdorfen.
The city must have drawn up a municipal heat plan by June 30, 2028 at the latest.
Transferring the IfE results to this is now “the next big homework task for Dorfen,” says Steiner.
According to figures from 2021, a good third of the heat in Dorfen was generated from natural gas, closely followed by wood.
The institute has created a building register that can serve as a basis for heat planning - and thus also for the heat network.
Incidentally, Steiner also has some hope for deep geothermal energy.
The area is considered well suited for this.
Following suggestions from the Dorfen Environmental Committee, the IfE will incorporate this aspect.
Steiner's assessment of the energy usage plan: “You can see that enormous things are happening here.
The energy transition is also possible for us and we can even export electricity.” And that will also be necessary.
“We can even achieve 100 percent self-sufficiency without building a single wind turbine.” Urban areas couldn’t say that.
In the future, they would be dependent on renewable energy from rural areas, predicts Steiner, who is also the honorary chairman of the Bavarian Energy and Water Industry Association.