Hessen starts heat-turning forum: Future of heat supply discusses!

Hessen starts heat-turning forum: Future of heat supply discusses!

Hessen, Deutschland - On June 4, 2025, the Hessian Minister of Energy Kaweh Mantoori opened the heat-turning forum 2025 in Hesse. This event serves as an exchange platform for cities, municipalities, municipal utilities and energy consultants, with the aim of promoting municipal heat planning as the key to climate -friendly heat supply. MANSORI emphasized the decisive role of municipal heat planning for future heat supply and introduced a new digital exchange platform called "Hessian municipalities for the heat transition", which strengthens the networking and cooperation between municipal representatives. The state of Hesse also provides new action aids to support heat planning, which include needs analyzes, implementation and cooperation in the convoy.

The heat-turning forum has been taking place for the third time and was organized by the state energy agency Hessen (Lea). Over 300 participants took part in the event, which also focused on topics such as energy efficiency, the decarbonization of heating networks and innovative implementation tools. Another central point of the discussion was the new heat planning law, which creates comprehensive legal foundations for heat supply in Germany.

background of the heat supply

Heat supply in Germany accounts for over 50 % of the final energy consumption and contributes significantly to CO₂ emissions. Around 80 % of the heat issue are currently covered by fossil fuels such as gas and oil. Almost every second of the 41 million households in Germany heat with gas, while about 25 % heating oil. A significant increase in heating costs in recent years illustrates urgency to switch heat supply to renewable energies.

The new heat planning law, which came into force on January 1, 2024, obliges all federal states to create nationwide heat plans. The strategic planning of how areas can be supplied with heat is a central task for the municipalities. The goal is a climate -friendly heat supply that relies on renewable energies and waste heat. According to the requirements of the law, new heating networks must be supplied from renewable energy sources or waste heat from 2025 from 2025. By 2030, the intended proportion is already 30 % for existing systems, and this proportion should increase to 80 % by 2040.

implementation of heat planning

The heat plans are created in two steps, inventory analysis and potential analysis, and the deadlines are staggered according to the population of the municipalities. For municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants, the deadline ends until June 30, 2026, while smaller communities have time until June 30, 2028. In addition, smaller communities among 10,000 inhabitants can use simpler procedures or merging.

The federal government supports these measures financially with a total of 500 million euros by 2028.> At the same time, Germany is fighting to achieve the climate goals of the heat transition, which provide a reduction in CO₂ emissions by 65 % by 2030 and 88 % by 2040 compared to 1990. The exchange between the federal, state, municipalities and associations is supported by a nationwide stakeholder dialogue, which is scheduled to begin in autumn 2024.

Current statistics show that 42 % of German municipalities are actively working on heat planning, while only 2 % of them can already show complete heat plans. Differences between the federal states can be seen, with Baden-Württemberg already counting 164 municipalities with finished heat plans. North Rhine-Westphalia has 396 municipalities, of which 30 have to complete their heat plans until mid-2026. It clearly shows how important efficient and coordinated heat planning is for the climate goals and how much potential still exists to implement the heat turnaround.

For detailed information on the individual subject areas, referred to the following reports: Wirtschaft.hessen.de , bmwsb.bund.de href = "https://www.bbsr.bund.de/bbsr/de/fachbeitrage/wohnen-immobilien/kommunale-waermanplanung.html"> bbsr.bund.de .