Linking EuroAirport to the district heating network is progressing
The construction work to connect the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg airport to the biomass power plant in Saint-Louis is progressing. To this end, the construction company SMCE forage et tunnel bored two 90-metre-long tunnels under the A35 motorway in Alsace.
The expansion of the heating network to the planned connection of the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg is progressing. The construction company SMCE forage et tunnel based in Sierentz has drilled two 90 meter long tunnels under the A35 motorway in Alsace, according to a press release from Primeo Energie from Münchenstein. The pipes that will transport the heat to the airport in the future will then be laid in the tunnels.
The heat comes from the biomass power plant in the Alsatian town of Saint-Louis. It is operated by the energy company R-CUE , a subsidiary of the energy supplier Primeo Energie. So far, R-CUE has been supplying the equivalent of 5,000 households with heat via the existing district heating network of 12.3 kilometers and producing electricity at the same time.
With the EuroAirport, a large heat consumer is added. The airport alone has a heating energy requirement of 3000 apartments. Its connection to the network “will reduce the consumption of fossil fuels by 90 percent” and thus decarbonize its energy mix. At the same time, the connection saves on heating costs, according to the press release.
Other urban and commercial areas are later to be connected to the district heating network in the Saint-Louis metropolitan area, including the Saint-Louis hypercentre, the centre, south and north zones, the Lys development zone (ZAC) and the Technoport. In total, the network is to grow to a length of 30 kilometers.
By 2030, up to 68 gigawatt hours of additional heat are to be distributed each year. This corresponds to 10,000 households and requires the construction of a new biomass heating plant, the press release continues. The expansion of the Saint-Louis heating network was decided at the end of 2020.