Friends of the Earth-CEPA – Planning and capacity building for a successful heat supply transformation
Friends of the Earth-CEPA, with its different activities, decided to be a pioneer in working with Slovak municipalities on the district heating decarbonization topic. They decided to try to demonstrate the benefits of transforming the existing heating systems into innovative, renewable, and sustainable solutions with the project: Planning and capacity building for a successful heat supply transformation.
The pilot, Municipality Partizánske, has 100% ownership of heat production and heat delivery. The pre-feasibility study was prepared for Friends of the Earth-CEPA by energy experts based on the data provided by the municipality. However, additional support is needed because the change of existing systems into low-temperature systems fully based on RES is complicated from technical, organizational, and legislative points of view.
The whole team was supported by W4RES in several areas.
First of all, they were provided with feedback on the pre-feasibility study and on the technical aspects to improve the implementation of the project. They got unique knowledge about comparing life cycle analyses for central or decentral energy system solutions.
They had opportunities to discuss how to present the CO2-emissions savings from the scenarios in the study, and also to have some suggestions on how to make the “rest” of the CO2-emitting fuels carbon-free by 2050 (e.g. using PV for substituting pump electricity, trying to substitute natural gas with biogas or hydrogen, etc.).
In addition, the project team received a consultation on the municipal heat planning process from Germany. Such a service provided them with planning documents and governance of the process.
Expertise from Germany in capacity building for decarbonization, energy planning, and coordination with municipalities was unique and beneficial for Slovakia.
The project also received support to connect with German experts in this field to stimulate mutual learning processes.
