Waste heat utilisation offers great potential for the move to renewable heating. The project AwaNetz: Capability Network for Waste Heat Utilisation in conjunction with the Municipal Enterprises Association (VKU) invites you to an event including a big-name panel discussion at HEATEXPO – the European trade show platform for tomorrow's heating. 

Dortmund, 18 July 2024 – How can unavoidable waste heat from industry and data centres be exploited for heating purposes? How to recover heat from wastewater? These questions and their tech-based solutions will be discussed at HEATEXPO, which is being held in Dortmund between 26 and 28 November 2024. AwaNetz and the Municipal Enterprises Association are inviting all visitors to an event featuring a panel discussion on waste heat utilisation on 28 November. AwaNetz is a project run by DENEFF EDL_HUB gGmbH, empact GmbH and IZES gGmbH. The great importance of this topic at the show can also be seen in the number of exhibitors offering technologies and services specifically for putting waste heat to good use. 

These exhibitors include system manufacturers with expertise in integration of large heat pumps such as Aalborg CSP A/S, ENGIE Refrigeration GmbH and Alois Müller GmbH as well as industrial heat pump manufacturers such as SPH Sustainable Process Heat GmbH. Pipework specialists such as Bänninger Kunststoff‑Produkte GmbH and Logstor Deutschland GmbH will also be exhibiting. AVAT Automation and 3S Consult GmbH will be presenting solutions for control systems, network management equipment and project planning. Energy supplier GP Joule GmbH and energy contractor ENGIE Deutschland GmbH will also be represented. Huber SE and KAESER KOMPRESSOREN SE will be presenting heat recovery from a variety of systems. HoSt Participaties B.V. and 2G Energy AG will be showing heat feed-in from CHP, CHP and biogas plants. G quadrat GmbH will be explaining pit storage. Other exhibiting building equipment businesses and plant manufacturers with expertise in the utilisation of unavoidable industrial waste heat are Rud. Otto Meyer Technik GmbH & Co KG and RÜTGERS GmbH & Co KG.

This so-called 'unavoidable waste heat' is generated in large quantities in almost every industrial and power generation plant. Heavy industry and chemical plants are the traditional sources of waste heat. In addition – also thanks to the AI boom – there are more and more powerful data centres producing unavoidable waste heat. Huge, virtually untapped heat potential is released into the environment every day – mainly because there are no customers. These heat sources could be utilised by expanding and developing local and district heating grids.

Waste heat sources differ widely depending on location

“The potential of waste heat is huge, yet so far it's hardly been exploited. At AwaNetz, we want to help make waste heat utilisation mainstream in Germany. Estimates suggest nearly half of all German households could be supplied with waste heat. We're delighted that this event is going to help key players get networked,” said Irina Rau, Research Associate at IZES gGmbH, the company also organising the National Waste Heat Conference in Berlin on 10 October. 

Waste heat is becoming a key component in the mix of sources available to municipal heat planners. It can be fed easily into district heating grids and can be used as long as the transportation route is not too long. Thus the waste heat sources must be local, and these can vary greatly from region to region.

For example, the Ruhr metropolitan area has access to the considerable waste heat potential of heavy industry and its high feed-in temperatures to the heating grid. The Frankfurt area, on the other hand, could utilise waste heat from the many data centres around what is the world's largest commercial Internet node. The waste heat temperatures generated here are low, meaning heat pumps have to be used to produce the minimum feed-in temperature required by heating grids. Offsetting this disbenefit is the fact that this heat is being given off constantly by data centres which, in many cases, are being powered by green electricity. 

About HEATEXPO – the trade show for tomorrow's heating

From 26 to 28 November 2024, HEATEXPO, with its mix of exhibitor space and expert forums, will provide an information platform for optimum ways of integrating the complex but profitable use of waste heat into municipal heat planning. It goes without saying that the show also caters for all other sustainable heat sources too. 

The Heat Planning Act for carbon-neutral heating which has to be implemented in Germany by 2045 is exerting strong pressure to act. Dialogue and keeping an eye on what is technically possible are especially important during the early stages of the planning process. As a combination of conference and exhibition, HEATEXPO creates an appropriate framework for this. Enriched with a varied programme of workshops and talks, HEATEXPO offers everyone in the green heating transition space to network and obtain high-value information – whether for municipal utility operators, municipal decision-makers, planners, technology producers or construction companies.

EXHIBITION AT A GLANCE 

HEATEXPO – THE SHOW FOR TOMORROW'S HEATING
Messe Dortmund introduced HEATEXPO as a brand-new European trade show platform bringing tomorrow's heating to life and showcasing innovative technologies people can experience at first hand. Here, energy suppliers and solution providers in the fields of plant engineering, infrastructure services and consulting are shaping the way heating will be provided in future.

DATE:

26 to 28 November 2024

EVENT ORGANISER:

Messe Dortmund

VISITOR TARGET GROUPS:

Energy suppliers, plant operators, municipal utilities, industrial businesses, architects and planners, pipeline constructors, housing associations, neighbourhood developers, investors, policy-makers and local government authorities

CONCEPTUAL SPONSOR:
Municipal Enterprises Association (VKU)

TECHNICAL PARTNERS:

• Association for the Economical Use of Energy and Water (ASEW)
• Association of German Cities (Deutscher Städtetag)
• German Local Government Confederation (DStGB)