For the Province of East Flanders and the Municipality of Zelzate, Ingenium investigated the feasibility of a heat network in Zelzate. After all, a lot of industry is active in the wider vicinity that has a large amount of residual heat.
The region south of Zelzate and north of Ghent has a lot of heavy industry. One of the characteristics of these energy-intensive sectors, is that a lot of residual heat is generated during production processes. The classic solution is to remove it via cooling towers.
Ingenium investigated the feasibility of a heat network between ArcelorMittal - located on the southern border of Zelzate - and the municipality of Zelzate, so that this residual heat would be put to good use. All opportunities, concerns and uncertainties were identified in order to maximize the chances of future development. In addition, an indicative business case was drawn up to investigate whether there was economic potential for the construction of a heat network.
Our study showed that a heat network between ArcelorMittal and the nearby Sint-Jan-Baptist psychiatric center is profitable under the right conditions. Thanks to the innovative spirit alive in both the municipality of Zelzate, ArcelorMittal and the psychiatric center, a heat network story is growing between these parties. This will lead to a sharp decrease in the use of fossil fuels for building heating and consequently a hefty reduction in CO2 emissions. A competition for the construction, management and operation of the heat network is currently underway.
This project was commissioned by the Province of East Flanders and is part of the European Interreg project DOEN (Sustainable Development of Energy Neutrality). DOEN is developing a script and a toolbox for energy brokers so that they can get to work in a concrete and structured way.
More information? Contact our expert Thomas Koch by e-mail(thomas.koch@ingenium.be) or by phone: 050 40 45 30
