BEWAG District Heating: Capital Expenditures That Pay-Off

The Europa-Center, Charlottenburg Palace, the German Opera, the Technical University and the Free University, the renowned department store KaDeWe - a large number of the architectural hallmarks of Berlin are heated through the BEWAG District Heating System. More than 4,000 supply stations are connected to the BEWAG District network: schools, museums, hospitals, industry and commerce, almost all of the hotels and department stores in the downtown district and a great many apartment buildings.

How does the District Heating come to your door?

For reasons of security the pipeline branches from the supply pipes to the individual supply stations are not mounted directly to the mains. Instead there are shafts built in steel-reinforced concrete that house the connecting valves to the main and are set up so that a large number of nearby houses can be served from this branch station. All the necessary fixtures such as shut-off valves and filling and draining fittings are also installed in these shafts.

The final point of the distribution network is the heat exchange station in the basement of any building connected to the District Heating System.

This station requires much less space than a regular hot water boiler. The few meters required for purposes of measuring, flow and safety controls can easily be mounted on a single wall.

The Special Benefits for District Heating Customers

In every household of average room size, heating makes for more than fifty per cent of the entire energy demand - all the more reason to give the special benefits of the BEWAG District Heating System close scrutiny. For the general benefits in terms of saving energy and protecting the natural environment is only the one side of why District Heating is both economically and ecologically sound. Other benefits directly profit our customers as well:
  1. There is only a one time fee for being connected to the system. Plus you never pay any bills for repairs or replacements since both the exchange station and the District Heating pipelines remain the property of BEWAG.
  2. Never again do you have to worry about your heating - everything works automatically and there is reliable service and maintenance of the supply station by the technicians of our customer service department at regular intervals. Good to know: service is available around the clock!
  3. Whoever has BEWAG District Heating in his apartment does not have to worry about the exact and tricky cost calculations based on actual heating energy consumption - every inhabitant of an apartment building served by District Heating pays the same amount of money per square meter of apartment size. This is made possible because of energy inputs in the heat and power stations.
  4. High level of reliability guaranteed by a network presently linking six combined power and heat stations. In 1988 the Reuter West heat and power station will be added to this network.
  5. District Heating is clean; there is no more buying and storing of fossil fuels. This also means that year for year 10,000 trucks do not have to be on the roads to deliver fuel oil - this itself reduces pollution and helps keep traffic off the city streets.

District Heating Exchange Station for central heating and hot water supply in a building with 30 apartments: 1. pressure reducing device, 2. safety valve, 3. flow-control, 4. flow indicator, 5. pump for heat circulation throughout the entire building.