Expected heat decarbonisation plans submitted by only 13% of German municipalities

Heat decarbonisation plans, which are key to the development and decarbonisation of district heating in Germany, have so far been submitted by 13% of German municipalities. The greatest progress has so far been seen among larger municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants, 98% of which have already submitted or at least started work on these plans. Clean Energy Wire reported.

District heating is one of the main keys to achieving climate-neutral heat supply for buildings. Alongside improving the energy efficiency of buildings, its role is therefore crucial to ensuring the decarbonisation of heating in Germany.

The future of district heating in Germany is to be outlined in individual municipalities' heat decarbonisation plans, which are to be submitted by the largest municipalities with more than 100,000 inhabitants by the middle of next year, and by smaller municipalities by mid-2028.

According to Clean Energy Wire, 13% of municipalities have submitted the plans so far. The greatest progress has been seen among larger municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants, 98% of which have already submitted or at least started preparing these plans.

100,000 buildings a year and €44 billion by 2030

District heating currently supplies more than one-third of homes in Germany's three largest cities – Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. The government has previously set a target of connecting up to 100,000 buildings to heat supply systems every year.

Investment in the expansion and decarbonisation of heat supply systems in Germany is therefore expected to be enormous. By 2030 alone, it is expected to amount to €43.5 billion, according to last year's report by analytics and consultancy firm Prognos AG. Most of the funding (60%) will be needed to expand heat networks, with the remainder going towards heat plants using renewable energy sources and their connection to the networks.

According to information published by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs, around 14% of German households were connected to heat supply systems in 2022. Renewable energy sources accounted for around 20% of total heat supplied by these systems. Most heat is therefore still generated from gas or coal.