Energy autonomy

The potential for heating with waste heat is huge

A study shows: In Vorarlberg, a quarter of the total energy required for heating could be covered by using waste heat.

Vorarlberg is on the way to energy autonomy. A study by the Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences has now shown that the region is sitting on a previously untapped treasure - waste heat. This could provide a huge boost for autonomous energy supply in the state.

Waste heat is generated in large quantities in industrial plants and sewage treatment plants. In their study, Markus Preißinger and Christoph Drexel have now investigated how high the potential to be exploited actually is. To this end, 13 large companies such as Blum, Meusburger and Rondo Ganahl were brought on board. A total of 13 industrial companies made themselves available for the study.

The waste heat was to be pumped into district heating pipes, which could cover an enormous amount.

Landesrat Daniel Zadra (Grüne)

The impressive result in figures: An annual 400 gigawatt hours (GWh) could be obtained from industrial waste heat, 200 GWh could be fed in from sewage treatment plants, making a total of 600 GWh. This corresponds to around a quarter of the energy used for space heating throughout Vorarlberg.

Heat is available all year round
Half of the fossil fuel consumption for heating could thus be saved, explained Christoph Drexel, who also pointed out that this heat is available all year round. There are only downtimes during the Christmas week due to company vacations. These have to be bridged, for example with biomass. Drexel emphasized that large networks that can be operated multimodally would be required for implementation. And Drexel and Preißinger even see storage possibilities.

The companies have signaled their interest and willingness to exploit the potential.

Landesrat Marco Tittler (ÖVP)

First of all, however, details need to be worked out and potential network operators need to be brought on board, as state councillor Daniel Zadra (Greens) explained. In any case, the study was certainly not made for the "famous drawer"; what was needed now was a "joint grand plan".

Provincial Councillor Marco Tittler (ÖVP) was also pleased with the study. He emphasized that the high level of interest shown by companies in the topic was a good prerequisite for implementation.