The 2023 municipal survey by the Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heat Transition

Berlin, Germany, 14 March 2024. Municipal heat planning is the key instrument for ensuring a smooth shift to the heating transition. As part of the German government’s Heat Planning Act (Wärmeplanungsgesetz, or WPG), municipalities will be expected to draw up a respective heat plan in the coming years. Some municipalities have already started to draw up their plans, while others have already taken concrete steps. Regions in Baden-Württemberg in particular are pioneers, where corresponding laws at state level already exist. dena’s Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition provides an informed overview of the current status with its evaluation of its second survey on municipal heat planning from 2023. More than 800 municipalities from all over Germany took part in this survey.

Robert Brückmann, head of the Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition, states, ‘implementing the heating transition locally will become increasingly important for municipalities and citizens in the coming years. Our survey provides a good insight into what needs to be considered and where there is a need for improvement. Our centre of expertise will incorporate these results into its work enabling it better advise the municipalities.’

These are the key findings of the survey:

Participation and communication are particular challenges

The implementation of the heating transition has many hurdles. Key issues are funding, skilled workers, bureaucracy and data procurement. They are all reflected in the responses of the municipalities. It comes as a surprise that stakeholder participation, public participation or communication are named as the most frequent or second most frequent challenge, depending on the planning progress. This shows that heat planning is a multi-stakeholder process. Citizens are following the plans of their municipalities, not least because the Buildings Energy Act will soon require them to heat their buildings in a climate-neutral way.

Costs per capita highest for small municipalities

Most participants who have already started heat planning outsource the heat planning tasks to external service providers. The costs vary greatly, ranging from €0.84 to €6.32 per capita. The fewer people living in the specific municipality, the higher these costs are. Therefore, it makes technical and financial sense for smaller municipalities to carry out heat planning together with other municipalities and to draw up an inter-municipal heat plan. This collaboration also makes it possible to pool human resources while promoting exchange and cooperation in the region from the outset.

Increased knowledge in the municipalities is encouraging

Despite the many challenges, there are also positive findings. A rough comparison of the current survey results with the responses from 2022 shows that the participants’ assessment of their level of knowledge regarding municipal heat planning in 2023 was significantly better. This suggests that the planning processes in the municipalities are progressing and developing.

The centre of expertise addresses the need of municipalities for samples, data overviews and dialogue

It is less surprising that the majority of municipalities state that they coordinate heat planning via climate protection management and put the necessary planning and process steps as services out to tender. It was also confirmed from the previous assessment that standardised templates, such as for tender documents and assistance with data procurement, can support the planning process in the municipalities. 

The Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition addresses these requirements with a range of services:

• The Municipal Heating Transition catalogue of model services contains templates for the tendering of services from the centre of expertise in the context of municipal heat planning.
• The Municipal Heating Transition service provider directory makes it easier for municipalities to exchange information with qualified service providers.
• The Municipal Heating Transition Data Compass provides an overview of the available data and where it can be requested.
• Web seminars such as KWW-Speziale or KWW-Praxisblicke [both in German] provide information on heat planning and offer many opportunities for exchange between municipalities, much like the KWW-Konferenz, which was held on 19 September 2024.

Key data on the municipal survey by the Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition

• The online survey was conducted in October 2023 among representatives of municipalities.
• This is a qualified, non-representative sample.
• A total of 862 analysable data records were collected.
• The survey was conducted and analysed by GIM Gesellschaft für Innovative Marktforschung mbH.

 

About the Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition

Since its launch in Halle an der Saale in April 2022, dena’s Centre of Expertise for the Municipal Heating Transition works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to prepare reliable services for municipal heat planning, first-hand expertise, networking options and consultancy material and provide it to stakeholders of the municipal heating transition in Germany. Please visit www.kww-halle.de for further information.