Once the Berlin Senate failed to take over the city’s district heating network, and now a new attempt is following. Discussions with Vattenfall have already been held, says SPD politician Giffey. The country would also take over the Gasag share in order to initiate a “heat transition”.
The state of Berlin wants more influence on the gas and district heating supply in the city. The Senate is therefore considering taking over both Vattenfall’s Berlin district heating business (Vattenfall Wärme Berlin) and shares in the Swedish group in the Berlin energy supplier Gasag, the state’s press and information office announced in the evening. Berlin has expressed its interest in a bundled acquisition. In a conversation with Vattenfall CEO Anna Borg, the Governing Social Democratic Mayor Franziska Giffey and other members of the Senate clarified the state’s goal of “thinking the district heating and gas networks together for an effective heating transition”.
“In cooperation with experienced industrial partners, the course for accelerating the energy and heat transition is to be set in a timely manner and strategic further development is to be promoted,” the statement said. To this end, the country is in intensive talks with the other Gasag shareholders Eon and Engie and has already defined the cornerstones of a joint cooperation. Berlin is aiming for a majority stake in Gasag. The state wants “to have more influence on the security of supply and the future of energy and heat supply in Berlin,” explained Giffey. Berlin will only become climate-neutral if the heat supply is also modernized. “With its 1.3 million district heating households, this lever for the energy transition in Berlin is of great importance.”
Finance Senator Daniel Wesener from the Greens explained: “A quick and successful heat transition is necessary so that Berlin can get through this energy crisis well and achieve its climate protection goals. To do this, we have to tie the existing infrastructure, energy sources and stakeholders much more closely together.” There was no information about possible costs of the intended deal. Vattenfall has stated that it wants to play an important role in the German energy transition and say goodbye to fossil fuels. In May, the company announced that its heating business in Berlin was being reviewed in this context. An option is a sale.
Several large power plants are connected to the Vattenfall heating network in Berlin, which mainly burn gas and hard coal, and in some cases also biomass. Vattenfall supplies 1.3 million homes with hot water and heat in Berlin. The district heating system in the capital is one of the largest in Western Europe. Hot water is transported to households via more than 1,700 kilometers of pipelines for heating. A few years ago, the state of Berlin tried to take over the network from Vattenfall. The attempt failed in court.
