W.E. District project - We aim to make district heating green

Currently, 70% of heating and cooling in the EU is being produced with the use of fossil fuels – coil, oil or gas. Considering that heating and cooling account for half of the general energy consumption, it is essential to start implementing technologies that use renewable sources of energy. By doing so we will be generating clean energy, considerably reducing air pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels.

Now CER has joined forces with a group of engineers and industry experts and started the European Innovation Project W.E.DISTRICT. The aim of the project is to demonstrate that it is possible to generate 100% fossil free heating and cooling solutions for entire local districts – combining renewable energy sources and waste heat recovery.

These results can be achieved regardless of the climate zone, the existing heating and cooling systems in the area and its building.  To fulfil this aim the WEDISTRICT project has set up four demonstration sites across Europe. By the end of the project, they will have integrated different sources of renewable energy combined with different technologies, in either new or existing district heating plants.

The locations of the demo sites where the technologies are being applied are located in Racibórz in Poland, Alcalá de Henares in Spain, Luleå in Sweden and Bucharest in Romania.

CER’s involvement in the project

CER’s contribution to the project is on the Racibórz, Poland, demo site.

Racibórz has been chosen for the retrofitting of an existing coal-based district heating system. The existing system will be replaced by a biomass heat generation unit, a PV panel and a thermal storage tank and heat pump.

For the purpose of the project CER has designed and manufactured a low emission biomass boiler that will substitute the coal-based heat generation unit.

The process included:

• Preliminary and technical design of a new filter and boiler installation
• Manufacturing of the prototype for the new filter and boiler installation
• Testing and delivery

The challenge is to satisfy the requirements of the end users by demonstrating the economic impact and the environmental effects of the new system.

Our main goal is to develop nine different technologies and then replicate them all over Europe and beyond. It is an immensely innovative project which, when finished, will lay the foundations for a completely different approach to district heating, ensuring a cleaner and more sustainable living.