From Hildburg Bruns
More and more Berliners are warming to district heating, which brings them 80 to 135 degrees hot water for their heating systems in their homes. “Demand has increased by 70 percent,” says Vattenfall spokesman Lutz Wiese.
BZ answers the most important questions
► How do I get a connection as a tenant? “Our customers are the building owners. Accordingly, it is not possible for tenants to decide for themselves whether to connect,” said the Vattenfall spokesman.
► Are there waiting times? Efficiency comes first when expanding district heating lines. First is compaction. So a house connected that is 20 to 50 meters away from a connection.
Overhead pipes for district heating supply along Rhinstraße in the district of Lichtenberg Photo: Robert Grahn for Vattenfall
► Where is the network currently being expanded? At 2,022 kilometers, Berlin has the largest city heating system in Western Europe. 1.3 million homes are currently being supplied. The expansion is in Schöneberg, where there are still many oil heating systems. Spandau (Askanierring, Hügelschanze) and Prenzlauer Berg are also focal points of expansion.
► How fast is the expansion? Wiese: “We can’t open and close the streets as often as we like.” The network grows by around 20-25 kilometers a year with 400 new addresses and 25,000 apartments. Information about this can be found online on the website www.wärme.berlin or by calling the Vattenfall sales department on 030/26710267.
► How much does a house connection cost when switching from gas to district heating? For a medium-sized apartment building with around 40 parties, around 15,000 to 20,000 euros.
In the monitoring room of Vattenfall’s district heating control room (Am Weingarten), the left half shows important customers in the eastern supply area, and the western districts on the right Photo: Ralf Gunther
► The conversion costs in the house? come to it. A spokeswoman for the plumbing, heating and plumbing guild: “This is a highly complex conversion. You can’t say that across the board, it also depends on funding opportunities.”
► Can a building with gas floor heating be connected to district heating? Basically yes. In apartments, individual gas boilers can be exchanged for thermal bath exchange stations (apartment stations). They are then connected to the central transfer station – the technical installations are the responsibility of the building owner – just like with central heating.
► How clean is Berlin’s district heating? The mix still consists mainly of fossil fuels: 77 percent gas, 14.6 percent hard coal (ends in 2030), 5.9 percent waste heat, 1.4 percent biomass. But the production should be climate-neutral. From Vattenfall’s point of view, it would be ideal if green hydrogen came from the Baltic Sea by pipeline. There are currently nine combined heat and power plants in the city.
In office since 2022: Vattenfall’s heating board member Christian Feuerherd (46) Photo: Ralf Gunther
► Who owns the district heating in Berlin? “We’ll bring the warmth back home,” hopes Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (45, SPD). It should be remunicipalised. The Swedes want to sell the division, the Senate is competing with other interested parties.