District heating

District heating systems
 

To save primary energy and increase energy efficiency, the HERA Group, in line with its mission of sustainable development, is highly committed to designing district heating plants capable of combining cutting edge technology with environmental protection. To make a project “sustainable” from the very start, the first step is to complete a full mapping of the users that could be potentially connected, with possible upgrades of areas not in use or to be restored. This evaluation makes it possible to optimise the distribution grid, while also satisfying the needs of the system, users and the environment.
After the user analysis, the study moves on to energy resources present in the local community. The heat provided by an efficient district heating system makes it possible to:

• make efficient use of renewable sources (e.g., geothermal energy);
• increase energy efficiency (e.g., with the recovery of process thermal energy);
• promote innovative technological supply chains;
• protect the environment by reducing polluting and climate-altering emissions.

In this manner, a balanced and efficient system is created, which is always aligned with the requirements of users and continuous improvements that can be enacted to mitigate environmental impacts.

It is easy to see that district heating systems will spread rapidly throughout Europe: indeed, the objectives established by the European Union require rather considerable energy saving and efficiency policies, and one of the key ways of reaching these targets is the implementation of district heating in light of the significant possibilities it provides for saving primary energy (not yet sufficiently exploited in the EU).