Competence Centre for the Municipal Heat Transition (KWW)
Expertise, networking and support for stakeholders in the municipal heating transition
Goal: to give local authorities in Germany the support they need to implement the heating transition
Topics: Municipal governments, Heating transition, Transforming the economy and society
Runtime: since 2021
Our mission: 10,700 municipal heating transitions
Germany has set itself the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2045. Heat accounts for around 60 per cent of final energy consumption. Therefore, transformation of the heating sector is essential.
The heating transition at the local level must be implemented in more than 10,700 municipalities, each with different conditions, at different speeds. Consideration needs to be given not only to the energy sources, but also to the energy infrastructures.
The challenge is to achieve a fair and sustainable heating transition by 2045. The municipalities are an important key to this.
Our approach: Guidelines for municipal heat planning
The process of heating transition is fragmented and complex. For this reason, local authorities need clear guidelines and support services. The strategic instrument for this is municipal heat planning.
The Competence Centre for the Municipal Heat Transition (KWW) works on establishing municipal heat planning as a central instrument for achieving efficient heat utilisation at local level. To this end, it offers phone consultation hours, counselling events, lectures, bundled information and tools on the website, weekly LinkedIn posts and a newsletter.
Our milestones
- 19 September 2024: the ‘Grosse KWW-Konferenz 2024’ (the second major conference by the competence centre) took place on the theme of ‘Municipal heat planning: Inform. Network. Follow through.’
- 1 July 2024: stakeholder dialogue on heat planning by the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, with its minister Dr Robert Habeck, and the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building, with its minister Klara Geywitz; the KWW publishes guidelines on heat planning with the accompanying documents and assumes the further processing of the topics from the consortium
- 6 March 2024: launch of the following tools by the competence centre: model service specifications, data compass and service provider directory
- 20 September 2023: the ‘Grosse KWW-Konferenz 2023’ (the competence centre’s first major conference), held in Halle an der Saale with over 500 participants in attendance (in person and virtual)
- 29 June 2023: the competence centre’s first ‘KWW Starterblock’ – a web seminar series for the preparatory phase of municipal heat planning
- May 2023: relaunch of the competence centre’s website with a wide range of information, tools and information area
- 17 March 2023: launch of the competence centre’s phone consultation hours
- 6 December 2022: the competence centre’s ‘KWW-Netzwerktreffen’ – a network meeting between the state energy agencies
- 19 October 2022: the competence centre’s first ‘KWW-Praxisblick’ (‘practical view’) – kicking off the web seminar series on pioneering municipalities
- 28 September 2022: founding meeting of the competence centre’s advisory board
- 17 April 2022: the competence centre’s grand opening in Halle an der Saale
- February 2022: the energy crisis spurs a wave of enquiries for consulting services on the heating transition
- December 2021: the competence centre receives its first enquiries about support services
- November 2021: the first two employees start in Halle with the setup team from Berlin
- October 2021: dena is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to set up the Competence Centre for the Municipal Heat Transition (KWW)
