Construction has begun on United Heat, a renewable cross-border district heating project connecting the cities of Görlitz in Germany and Zgorzelec in Poland. The project is designed to play a key role in the cities’ transition to climate-neutral heat supply by largely shifting to renewable energy sources by 2030. Drees & Sommer, an international consulting firm specialising in construction, real estate, and infrastructure, is supporting United Heat through project management consulting.
The project is led by Stadtwerke Görlitz, part of the Veolia Group, and the Polish district heating provider SEC Zgorzelec, a company belonging to the E.ON Group. United Heat is supported by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), a program specifically designed to fund cross-border infrastructure of strategic European importance, as well as on a national level.
The twin city of Görlitz/Zgorzelec is located in a traditional industrial region between Zwickau in Germany and Katowice in Poland, an area that has long been shaped by coal mining and heavy industry. As coal is gradually phased out, the region is undergoing a great structural transformation. United Heat is intended to play an important role in this transition, but also to demonstrate how cross-border energy cooperation between EU member states can accelerate the move away from fossil fuels internationally.
“Close cooperation between Görlitz and Zgorzelec, between Germany and Poland, sets an example for cross-border collaboration in Europe,” says Matthias Block, CEO of Stadtwerke Görlitz AG. “The project combines different energy sources and innovative generation technologies to decarbonise heat supply while ensuring reliable energy for residents and businesses.”
Renewable heat sources replace fossil fuels
Currently, four separate district heating networks operate in Görlitz, generating heat through gas-fired combined heat and power plants. On the Polish side, heat production still relies largely on coal and natural gas.
As part of United Heat, innovative heat supply systems will replace fossil fuels: heat pumps, biomass and solar thermal energy form the core heat sources in future and will cover around 98% of the supply. The system is complemented by power-to-heat, pit thermal energy storage and waste heat from the sewage gas process. Together, these technologies are expected to reduce carbon emissions by around 50,000 metric tons per year.
Unlike conventional district heating systems that rely on a single large power plant, United Heat is based on a decentralised supply structure with several generation sites. This approach increases flexibility, reduces dependency on individual energy sources and improves the overall resilience of the system.
A key hub of the new network will be the sewage treatment plant, which will serve as a central connection point between the German and Polish networks. The system will be able to transport up to 15 megawatts of heat in either direction, allowing energy to flow from west to east or from east to west, depending on where heat can be produced most efficiently at a given time.
The plan provides for connecting Zgorzelec and Görlitz via a 3.8-kilometre pipeline. To link the previously separate networks on the German side, around twelve kilometres of additional pipelines will be laid.
Project management for a cross-border infrastructure project
Drees & Sommer brings its expertise in consulting and project management to coordinate the complex implementation of the project as a central partner of Stadtwerke Görlitz. In 2022, the company had already carried out a feasibility study for the decarbonization of the district heating system as part of its Zero Carbon Initiative.
As Project Management Consultants, the experts of Drees & Sommer are responsible for coordinating and overseeing all project phases – from planning and construction to commissioning, as well as providing specialised energy market consulting. The scope encompasses not only conventional project management tasks, but also technical quality assurance throughout both the planning process and on-site, as well as permit management.
“The heat transition may represent the greatest challenge district heating providers have ever faced. United Heat has risen to meet it, combining innovative energy technologies into an intelligently managed energy mix — underpinned by close technical and organisational collaboration across national borders,” says Karl Schultz, energy consulting expert at Drees & Sommer.
“Structured project management with industry-specific processes is what makes it possible to implement such a complex infrastructure project efficiently within such a tight timeframe,” adds Carolin Worech, project management team leader at Drees & Sommer.
