Tropical Nights Increasing: Start of the Wien Energie District Cooling for the Summer Season
The night leading into Thursday was the first tropical night in Vienna in the year 2025. The number of these nights, where the temperature does not drop below 20 degrees, has increased significantly in recent years. With increasingly hotter summers, the demand for cooling is rising. Wien Energie is prepared for this and has used the winter months to get the district cooling ready for the new season. On days over 30 degrees, the demand for cooling rises rapidly.
Wien Energie District Cooling Starts the Summer Season
"Climate change is undeniable. In the summer of 2024, there were 53 tropical nights in downtown Vienna," says Michael Strebl, CEO of Wien Energie. "Cooling is not just a matter of comfort, but increasingly also of health. That's why we are investing 90 million euros in the expansion of district cooling over the next few years."
There is news from the district cooling center Schottenring, which was put into operation in 2013: The cooling machines were replaced in two night shifts. This was a spectacular undertaking, where the old machines, up to 7.5 meters long, first had to be lifted out of the underground district cooling center through an opening in the street using a mobile crane. On the second night, the new machines, weighing 23 tons, were carefully brought in the same way. By replacing the machines, the installed capacity was increased by 1.9 megawatts to 20 MW.
Construction also took place outside the inner-city district cooling ring: In Siemensstraße (Floridsdorf), Wien Energie has put a new district cooling center into operation. With an installed capacity of six MW, it cools the premises of the office and business park Central Hub. There are still capacities available for other customers in the vicinity. The new cooling center is one of 17 decentralized solutions. These supply customers locally, without connection to the central district cooling network.
In the district cooling center Meduni Campus, the work is progressing rapidly, with commissioning planned for the summer. For the first time, Wien Energie is constructing an ice storage there. This is intended to help cover consumption peaks and enable more efficient operation of the cooling center.
District Cooling in Summer and Winter
District cooling is produced in dedicated centers with highly efficient cooling machines in the form of cold water. The water, cooled to about 5-6 degrees Celsius, reaches the customers through insulated pipes and is distributed there via the building's own cooling systems. On site, the water absorbs the heat from the building and transports it away. The recooling also takes place centrally, where there is the possibility to use river water.
District cooling has its production peaks in the summer, but cooling is also needed in the winter. Year-round consumers include the AKH, data centers, several large kitchens and hotels, cultural institutions like the Ronacher musical theater and the Natural History Museum. Offices and apartments have also been connected to district cooling where possible. Compared to conventional air conditioning systems, district cooling saves more than 50 percent of CO2 emissions in operation. Another advantage is that the waste heat in the system is not released into the immediate environment via fans.
With increasingly hotter summers, the demand for cooling is rising. Wien Energie is therefore continuously expanding the district cooling network. An important milestone was reached in 2024 with the completion of the cooling ring. This allows the district cooling centers in the city center to feed into a common network and be used even more efficiently.
(Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.