Görlitz, 07.02.2025
The cross-border project UNITED HEAT, a cooperation between Stadtwerke Görlitz (SWG) and the Polish heating supplier SEC Zgorzelec, is gaining momentum and has already achieved several important milestones.
Decarbonised district heating across national borders – Görlitz and its Polish sister city Zgorzelec want to make this vision a reality by 2030. Stadtwerke Görlitz and the Polish district heating supplier SEC Zgorzelec are playing a key role in the planning. Their UNITED HEAT project combines diverse resources and innovative generation technologies in order to decarbonise the heat supply in the future and ensure it at all times.
To this end, both cities in the centre of Europe want to link their district heating infrastructure – for greater security, efficiency and sustainability. With a view to decarbonising the energy systems, the heating networks are not only to be interconnected by 2030, but also completely converted to renewable energy sources.
With this cross-border project, the European city is taking action in the heating sector, which is responsible for a large proportion of CO2 emissions. The example of the European city shows how municipalities can move towards a CO2-free energy supply and thus make a substantial contribution to the energy transition and climate protection.
There are currently four separate district heating areas in Görlitz, which mainly obtain their energy from natural gas. In neighbouring Zgorzelec, there is a single district heating network that is operated by burning lignite, with natural gas serving as a supplementary energy source.
Together, these systems cause annual emissions of 50,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere. The declared aim is to completely eliminate these emissions by 2030 and thus achieve a CO2-neutral district heating supply in both cities.
In 2020, the mayors of both cities signed a declaration of intent for the ‘UNITED HEAT – climate-neutral district heating for the European city’ project; since then, Stadtwerke Görlitz has been working intensively with SEC Zgorzelec to drive forward the planning of UNITED HEAT. ‘We are consistently implementing the provisions of the contract from four years ago so that the citizens of our cities will soon be able to heat their homes with district heating generated in a climateneutral way,’ says Rafał Gronicz, Mayor of Zgorzelec, adding: ’This shows that we are taking the energy transition in our regions seriously and feel responsible for the future of our cities.’
The concept phase, including the necessary acquisition of funding as part of the modelling of the project, is now largely complete, meaning that the implementation of the first construction measures will begin in 2025.
The concept envisages connecting all five district heating areas with each other. Twelve kilometres of district heating pipelines are required for this. By creating this larger, cross-border network, the district heating suppliers will be able to generate district heating from different, climate-neutral technologies more efficiently and flexibly in future. From 2030, a third of the district heating requirements of the entire European city are to be covered by heat pumps. To this end, heat First milestones in the project for climate-neutral district heating supply in Görlitz/Zgorzelec achieved will be extracted from Lake Berzdorf and the treated wastewater from the ‘Nord’ sewage treatment plant in Görlitz. 17% of the district heating comes from solar thermal energy in combination with seasonal heat storage. 48% comes from biomass. However, the proportion of biomass for Görlitz will always be less than 25%. There are reasons why the proportion of biomass in Zgorzelec is significantly higher than in Görlitz: a much higher flow temperature is required in Poland than in Germany, which limits the use of heat pumps and solar thermal energy at cold temperatures. Waste heat utilisation and power-to-heat (heat production from electricity) are used for the remaining two percent.
In order to successfully implement the project, Stadtwerke Görlitz AG (SWG) and its Polish partner SEC Zgorzelec submitted the first funding applications to the EU at the beginning of 2024. This involved the planning costs for the overall project as well as the construction of specific facilities and pipelines. Applications for national funding from BEW were also submitted last year. The feedback on the requests for support from the EU and also from the federal government was very positive and secured the highest amount of funding. Only a few projects across the EU have been able to qualify for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme.
The two companies only recently submitted another funding application to the EU in January 2025 for the next generation plants and interconnectors as part of the project. A response is expected in the summer.
The funding pledges are an essential prerequisite for the realisation of the UNITED HEAT project.
‘The financial support from the EU and the federal government is essential in order to realise a climate-friendly heat supply in our region and at the same time ensure the competitiveness of our prices,’ explained Matthias Block, CEO of Stadtwerke Görlitz AG. He added: ‘Without this financial support, we would face the enormous challenge of making the heating sector CO2-neutral on the one hand and keeping the costs for our customers within reasonable limits on the other.’
Stadtwerke Görlitz AG recently acquired a 37-hectare site in the ‘An der Autobahn’ industrial estate near Hornbach. This site is intended for the installation of solar modules and the construction of a seasonal underground storage facility.
Further measures are planned on the German side this year: In the second half of the year, work will begin on the integration and expansion of sewage gas storage facilities. In addition, construction will begin on the first kilometre of the connecting pipeline between the combined heat and power plant in Görlitz Königshufen and the Görlitz ‘Nord’ sewage treatment plant.
At the same time, construction of a biomass heating plant is scheduled to begin on the Polish side as the first measure, which is also due to take place this year.
A German-Polish working group was set up to implement the project. This is made up of specialists from the companies involved and their shareholders. Grzegorz Bicki, Chairman of the Management Board of SEC Zgorzelec Sp. z o.o., emphasises the special nature of this undertaking: ‘A project of this scope is anything but routine. We are extremely grateful that we can draw on the comprehensive expertise of the Veolia Group and E.ON. The active support of our colleagues is invaluable.’
The UNITED HEAT project is being driven by a multinational team. Around 30 specialists from different countries are contributing their expertise and working flat out to realise this pioneering project.
With the UNITED HEAT project, both cities and their district heating suppliers are taking on a pioneering role. ‘With the decision in 2020 to set out on the path to a joint district heating supply, we as the European City of Görlitz/Zgorzelec have taken on a pioneering role in Europe. This is recognised internationally and is also financially supported by the federal government and the EU. The challenge lies on the one hand in the cross-border technical infrastructure and on the other hand in the organisation of the energy prices, which should not disadvantage the citizens,’ says Octavian Ursu, Lord Mayor of the City of Görlitz.
The construction of the new district heating pipes means that new neighbourhoods can also be connected to the heating system. This is important information for building owners with regard to the Building Energy Act, which requires the use of renewable energies in the heating sector by 2028. ‘As part of this project, we have built up a strong team with in-depth expertise in the field of climate-neutral heat supply. This enables us to develop individual, decentralised heating solutions for buildings that cannot be connected to the district heating system in the future, in addition to district heating,’ says Matthias Block.