The Paris Climate Protection Agreement obliges the signatory states to achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Germany has ambitiously brought forward this goal with the Climate Protection Act and is aiming for climate neutrality by 2045. This target requires far-reaching transformation processes, particularly in the energy sector. The heating sector has a central role to play here, as it is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
Against this backdrop, the use of industrial waste heat offers considerable potential for decarbonizing urban heating networks. In the research project “hyBit – Hydrogen for Bremen’s industrial Transformation”, IKEM used the example of Bremen’s industrial port to investigate how the legal framework conditions for the efficient use of industrial waste heat are designed.
The study focused on three aspects: firstly, the planning and licensing requirements that must be observed when installing the necessary systems such as heat pumps, heat exchangers and heat storage systems. Secondly, the legal framework conditions for the installation and operation of heating networks were analyzed. Finally, a possible entitlement of waste heat producers to feed into existing heating networks was also examined.
This study comes to the conclusion that there are still significant gaps in the legal framework. In particular, the insufficient legal anchoring of waste heat utilization in the relevant laws and the lack of a federal legal entitlement for waste heat producers to feed into existing heating networks are key obstacles to the increased use of industrial waste heat and the expansion of heating networks.
In hyBit, IKEM examines how hydrogen can advance Bremen’s industrial transformation and the energy transition in general.
