Decarbonising district heating Germany: Heat as a Service

Heat as a Service (HaaS) in district heating is an emerging model in which third‑party providers develop, finance, and operate renewable or waste‑heat generation assets and deliver the heat to network operators through performance‑based contracts. By shifting capital investment, operational optimisation, and technology risk away from utilities, HaaS enables alternative deployment of low‑carbon heat sources, advanced digital monitoring, and waste‑heat integration.  

As many markets undergo major heat system transformation, driven by long‑term heat planning requirements, renewable integration targets, and infrastructure modernisation, HaaS offers a scalable mechanism to accelerate decarbonisation while reducing financial and operational burdens for district heating operators. 

For the past three years the HeatMineDH project has been working with evaluating technical options, economic viability, and long‑term decarbonisation pathways of the district heating networks in Braunschweig and Göttingen, with Berlin as a follower city. As the project is coming to an end it is time to present the project results. 

You are kindly welcome to join us on Thursday May 12 at 14:00 CET for a dedicated knowledge exchange forum (KEF) during which we will take a closer look at these challenges and explore the business models and investment plans developed. 

To get the discussion started, we will hear from: 

• TBC: AGFW Energy Efficiency Association for heating, cooling and CHP
• Martin Debusmann, from BEW Berliner Energie und Wärme, will introduce the Berlin DH network.
• Bastian Hase, from  BS Energy, will introduce the Braunschweig DH network.
• Lukas Grünberger, Project Manager R&D at SOLID, will present the results from their analysis of the Braunschweig case.
• Dr. Gerd Rappenecker, CTO at  Stadtwerke Göttingen, will introduce the Göttingen DH network.
• Johannes Pelda, Scientific Assistant at HAWK University will present the results from their analysis of the Göttingen case. 

This session will be moderated by Emilia Pisani, Communication and Project manager at RISE and will be held in english. 

The project

RISE is a partner in HeatMineDH, an international collaborative project co-funded by the European Commission through the LIFE programme. The project aims to develop business cases and investment plans that enable the integration of low-temperature heat sources into high-temperature district heating networks.