Iberdrola España starts deploying its first renewable heating network in Palencia

• The company, which reaffirms its commitment to decarbonisation, plans to invest around 40 million euros in implementing a renewable heat distribution network for heating and hot water that will be operational in 2025.
• It will be a far cleaner, safer and more efficient alternative for users than gas or diesel and does not require any end customer investment as the connection has zero cost and they only pay for the energy consumed.
• Heat network consumers could save up to 20% on their energy bills.

And Iberdrola España's first renewable heat network is underway in Palencia. The company, which reaffirms its commitment to decarbonisation, plans to invest close to 40 million euros in the deployment of a renewable heat distribution network to supply heating and hot water to homeowners' associations, companies and government buildings.

The mayor of Palencia, Miriam Andrés, accompanied by the Iberdrola representative in Castilla y León, Miguel Calvo, the deputy mayor, Carlos Hernández, and the project manager, Javier Amores, visited the construction site of the 100% renewable generation plant this morning.

The execution of this heat network, which has a fifty-year concession from Palencia City Council, will be carried out over the next three years and will run mainly through the districts of Pan y Guindas, Centro, Allende del Río, El Carmen, San Juanillo, Avenida de Madrid, San Pablo y Santa Marina, San Antonio, Santiago, Ave María and El Cristo.

This more energy-efficient and economical way of obtaining hot water and heating, which will be operational in 2025, is a much cleaner, safer and more efficient alternative for users than those with gas or diesel and does not require any end customer investment as the connection has zero cost and they only pay for the energy consumed.

The mayor of Palencia, Miriam Andrés, affirmed that this heat network that will be installed throughout our city "will allow us to nearly complete the circuit of community boilers in the capital itself to obtain efficient and sustainable heat within the new Agenda 2030 city model", where as she pointed out "we have to move towards reducing fossil fuels and energy efficiency in all aspects".

"This project will serve to accelerate the decarbonisation of heating and domestic hot water (DHW) services, cleaning our air and lowering our energy bills in households that is not subject to international fossil fuel price fluctuations. By connecting local industry to the grid, either to provide its waste heat or to consume heat from the grid, or both, it makes a decisive contribution to energy efficiency and the circular economy", stressed Miguel Calvo, Iberdrola's representative in Castilla y León.

Consumers of this renewable heat network could save up to 20% on their energy bills, with the savings compared to the system it replaces guaranteed by contract and the old system left as a back-up. 

The implementation of this project will prevent the emission of approximately 20,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

The company has the support of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge as the initiative was chosen to receive a 4.9 million euro grant from the Incentive Programme for heating and cooling network projects using renewable energy sources in competitive competition, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan – financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU.

This initiative is the first of an ambitious portfolio of projects that Iberdrola España is developing in Spain and which would cover an approximate demand of more than 4 TWht/year. For its execution, Iberdrola España set up a company called IR Redes de Calor y Frío, S.L. in 2021 with Recursos de la Biomasa, S.L.U.. Its corporate purpose is to promote, develop, built, and operate heating and cooling networks.

Recursos de la Biomasa, S.L.U. (REBI). REBI is a prestigious energy services company with extensive experience in the design, management and operation of thermal installations for residential, tertiary and industrial use, and has considerable experience in the design, construction and maintenance of large heat networks, currently providing energy services to more than 10,000 homes and public buildings in its six operational networks: Olvega, Soria, Aranda de Duero, Guadalajara, University of Valladolid and Cuenca.

A heat network to supply more than 5,000 homes

Heat networks are powered by the renewable energy around them such as industrial waste heat, heat pumps, geothermal, solar, biomass and any type of energy available to supply hot water and heating to a residential complex or a city while reducing emissions and with them pollution.
The heat travels from a central plant in the form of hot water through a system of underground pipes to a substation that organises the energy transfer to the buildings’ internal circuits. This is a business with enormous growth opportunities in Spain.

This first heat network in Palencia will have a 100% renewable generation plant and will supply more than 5,000 homes through this piping system approximately 20 kilometres long that will make up the output/input network of the centralised installation that will connect the plant with the associated buildings and industries. In addition, the heat network will have a 10,000 m3 storage tank to decouple production from heat demand.

In addition to the advantages for users, who will have smart control over the building’s energy, improving their energy rating, and will have a simpler hot water and heating system, which will improve reliability compared to traditional systems, the surrounding area and the environment will also benefit, as the surplus energy is used to produce heat, improving efficiency and the local economy and reducing CO2 emissions and environmental pollution.

Reducing CO₂ emmisions

Household heating in Europe is responsible for about 36% of CO₂ emissions. The European Commission has set targets to reduce emissions by at least 40% by 2030, compared to 2008 levels, and by at least 50% by 2050.

The new generation of heat networks is characterised by their advanced energy storage technologies. In this case, an energy storage tank is used to accumulate excess heat generated by renewable sources when demand is low. This tank allows heat to be stored during periods of surplus production and released when demand increases, optimising the system’s energy efficiency and ensuring a continuous supply of heat to users, allowing greater flexibility in the management of heat supply and facilitating the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, into the heat network.