How it works: District heating

The Dobbiaco-San Candido district heating plant generates heat using wood chips. The ORC module – the first in South Tyrol and the biggest in Europe – generates electrical energy. The combustion of biomass in the boiler generates heat that heats up the thermal oil. This energy drives a turbine and a generator creates electricity. Thanks to a combination of electric filter and flue gas condensation, the flue gas emissions are kept to an absolute minimum. The cooling process in the whole electricity generation process creates hot water that can be supplied as district heating to the two districts.

The district heating grid consists of two insulated pipes, the flow and the return. The flow transports the heating water to the individual district heating customers. A heat transfer station for the individual district heating customers distributes the heat to the existing hot-water central heating system, where it is distributed around the house as usual. A heat-transfer station consists of a controller, a heat exchanger and a heat meter. The controller allows fully automatic control of the temperature desired by the distant heating customers. The heat exchanger separates the distant heating grid and the distant heating customer’s hot-water central heating system.The calibrated heat meters measure the amount of energy consumed.