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The Wiener Stadtwerke wants to ban all gas heating from the city by 2040. Instead of gas, Vienna should heat in the future with district heating, heat pumps and geothermal energy, electricity should be renewable and cars should be electric, according to the vision.

There are currently more than 500,000 gas boilers and more than 50,000 gas stoves in Vienna. By 2040, 56 percent of all apartments and houses in Vienna must be equipped with district heating; currently it is 40 percent. The rest is heated with heat pumps. “With our companies we are able to shape the entire energy and mobility transition,” said general manager of the municipal utilities, Peter Weinelt, in an APA interview.

Currently, half of the district heating in the Austrian capital is produced in so-called cogeneration plants, which simultaneously generate heat and electricity and are fired with natural gas. About 28 percent of the heat comes from waste incineration, the rest comes in the form of residual heat from industry. Peaks are absorbed with thermal natural gas power stations, but biomass power stations, geothermal heat and ambient heat are also used. In the future, natural gas will play a much smaller role; instead, Vienna will rely on geothermal energy and large heat pumps.

Weinelt: The production of renewable energy must be increased fivefold

Another focus of municipal utilities is on expanding the production of green electricity: “We will have to increase the generation of renewable electricity and heat at least fivefold in the next ten to fifteen years,” says Weinelt. This electricity target will mainly be achieved with new photovoltaic systems and wind farms. Some small hydroelectric power stations are also part of the portfolio. Other projects concern different forms of storage, such as large batteries but also heat storage or hydrogen.

But the topography does not make it easy for municipal utilities. “The hilliness of Vienna is a big problem in some districts, because hot water can only be brought there very inefficiently with the help of district heating,” said the head of the Wiener Stadtwerke. But he had confidence in the goal: “We think it is realistic that we will get there. If everything works out in 2040, we will do our best.”

(sda/apa)