Heide: District heating network with Northvolt – TechFieber Greentech Live

With the help of the Swedish company Northvolt, a district heating network is to be set up in the Heide area (Dithmarschen). Representatives of the company, the city and the municipal utility signed a declaration of intent on Monday on the company premises in Lohe-Rickelshof on the outskirts of the district town. Northvolt wants to build a large battery cell factory for electric cars there with the help of the federal and state governments.

District heating is becoming more important

Such a factory generates a lot of waste heat, especially during drying and cooling processes. Some of it can be reused in other processes; nevertheless, excess waste heat will occur. That’s why Northvolt, Stadtwerke, the heat supply region Heide and the city have explored whether the planned factory settlement could be the initial spark for the development of a district heating network.

According to Northvolt, waste heat production of 20 to 40 megawatts per year can be expected. This could replace a lot of heating gas in the region. “This is a very significant dimension,” said the chairman of the supervisory board of the municipal utility, the CDU member of the state parliament Andreas Hein. In Heide, 65 percent of the heating is currently done with gas. This produces around 33,000 tons of CO2 every year.