Organized by the Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia with the collaboration of Catalonia International

A trip to South Tyrol organized by the Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia (CTFC) with the collaboration of Catalonia International took place last week. Representatives from several municipalities in the Pyrenees region visited heat networks of different sizes that supply energy to villages of 250 to 8,000 inhabitants in this mountainous area.

The aim of the visits was to learn about the different management models for heat networks, since the starting situation and energy needs of South Tyrol are very similar to those of the Pyrenees. The models are varied: a public company integrated by several municipalities,  an energy cooperative promoted by the city council, a network owned by the municipality with outsourced technical service, or an energy cooperative promoted by forest owners. The group also visited a network that, due to a poor initial design, has had many management problems. The idea is to avoid this type of error in the approach to heat networks in the Pyrenees.

The group was received by the deputy director of the Provincial Agency for the Environment and Climate Protection of the autonomous province of Bozen - Alto Adige, who explained what policies they had implemented to promote the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energies, as is the case with forest biomass. The Pyrenean elected officials were also able to talk to the representatives of the municipalities where the heat networks are located and, thus, learn about the difficulties they encountered at the time and the benefits obtained after twenty years of experience.

The debates that originated within the same group made it possible to share experiences and visions for the future. Now, CTFC technicians will prepare informative documents on the energy possibilities with biomass and the thermal needs of each Pyrenean region so that they can draw up their regional strategy for heat networks.