Divisions

District heating

Together with its subsidiary Wien Energie Fernwärme, Wien Energie is counted among the largest district heating companies in Europe. The company has a network of pipes extending almost 1,100 km and supplies around 280,000 private households and 5,500 businesses in Vienna with energy for heating and hot water.

Heat generation during the business year 2008

Total heat production during the year under review amounted to approximately 20% more than in the previous year. This is due to consistently low temperatures, particularly during the heating period. The total amount of heat produced amounted to around 5,700 gigawatt hours (GWh). Co-generation production surpassed last year’s total by 25% due to the fact that restrictions caused by renovation work at the Simmering 1/2 power station could be largely lifted.

Wien Energie has a long tradition of producing district heating stretching over a period of 40 years. District heating has proven itself one of the most environmentally sensitive and commercially viable alternatives to producing electricity and heating with fossil fuels, particularly in metropolitan areas.

Above all, the co-generation technology employed in Vienna is highly efficient. Around 59% of the entire heat requirements of Wiener Fernwärme are met from the waste heat generated when electricity is produced. The remaining heat is obtained from waste incineration, the co-generation plant owned by OMV at its refinery in Schwechat, and from peak load boilers and heating centres. In total, Wien Energie Fernwärme has the capacity to generate up to around 2,830 MW of district heating.

And this is how district heating works...

The theory is simply: hot water is pumped into individual buildings via a series of supply pipelines. The actual heat exchange takes place in converter substations in the cellar of the customer’s building where the district heating water heats the water in the building’s own central heating and hot water systems. Afterwards, the cooled water flows back to where it started via return pipes. District heating is also kinder to the environment than other forms of heating. The CO₂ emissions per MWh of energy used amount to just 132 kg with district heating as opposed to 256 kg for gas and 400 kg for heating oil.