City of Bruges wishes to investigate the feasibility of developing a heat network in the city center.

City of Bruges has the ambition to be climate neutral for its entire territory by 2050. For Bruges' historic city center, this is a very challenging task: the many historic and protected buildings are not easy to insulate, so typical renewable heating technologies such as heat pumps are not suitable everywhere. Therefore, Ingenium, commissioned by the city, studied whether a heat network in the inner city could offer a sustainable and affordable solution.

Brugge heeft al heel wat ervaring met warmtenetten: sinds 1985 levert de afvalverbrandingsoven van intercommunale IVBO warmte aan onder andere het ziekenhuis AZ Sint-Jan en de gevangenis. De specifieke context van de Brugse binnenstad, met grote historische gebouwcomplexen (musea, hotels, scholen,…) en een aantal potentiële restwarmtebronnen in de omgeving maken dat de binnenstad, ondanks de smalle straatjes, mogelijk geschikt is voor een warmtenet. Tijdens de opdracht evalueerde Ingenium welke beschikbare restwarmtebronnen in aanmerking komen om warmte te leveren aan een warmtenet.

We studied four local neighborhood heat networks ("heat islands"): the "city republic" around library de Biekorf, the central zone around Markt and Burg, the museum district around Gruuthuse and Groeninge museums, and finally around Oud St-Jan. For each of these neighborhood heat networks, we looked technically at how a heat network could be constructed in the city, which buildings could be connected, what impact this would have on CO2 emissions and the costs involved. In the next step, we looked at how these neighborhood heat networks can be connected in phases to each other and to the waste heat sources to form a single district heat network. Here, too, we looked at how this can be constructed technically, what impact this has on CO2 emissions and what costs are involved.

Finally, Ingenium also made the long-term look at how this sustainable district heat grid could further develop in the future to other city neighborhoods, such as, for example, the area around the Beurs and the station area.

ref.20042.001