Municipal energy planning in Glarus

Through the decision taken at the cantonal assembly of the canton of Glarus on the 5th of September 2021 to revise the Energy Act and the subsequent implementation by the cantonal council and the cantonal government in 2022, the course has been set towards fossil-free heat generation. By 2040, more than 90% of buildings of the public sector must be heated without fossil fuels and private buildings must no longer have heatings using fossil fuels.

With reference to these new framework conditions, the town of Glarus is having its municipal energy planning fundamentally revised. The challenge here is that ultimately all buildings in the municipal area are to be supplied with renewable energies and that their potential and utilisation possibilities are limited at the same time. TEP Energy is using its Spatial Energy Analysis Toolbox (SEAT) and the building stock model for this purpose. SEAT is used, for example, to analyse the possible uses of air/water heat pumps, taking noise protection into account. In addition, the demand-side potential for thermal networks is analysed as a function of economic efficiency. Thermal networks are particularly important in municipalities such as Glarus with a certain energy density and a large groundwater area that restricts the use of geothermal probes. It must also be taken into account that wood and biogas are only available to a limited extent in the canton of Glarus and in Switzerland and that these valuable resources should be used for other purposes.
When drawing up the municipal energy plan, TEP Energy takes these aspects into account with the involvement of the municipality and the local energy supplier.

Project infos

  • Project DurationMay 2022 - April 2024

  • Contact at TEPMarc Melliger, Martin Jakob

  • Contracting PartyMunicipality of Glarus

  • Final reportAvailable on request

Reference projects

Potential and feasibility study for heat supply in Aesch

The municipality of Aesch (BL) is developing a climate-friendly, economical and secure heat supply for households and businesses. The aim of the municipality is to achieve the national climate targets (net zero by 2050) and build a sustainable energy infrastructure. As part of the feasibility study, renewable energy sources for heating and hot water, including geothermal energy, local and district heating solutions and air-to-water heat pumps, were analysed. TEP Energy analysed their economic viability and possible implementation in various sub-areas. The study was carried out in collaboration with eicher+pauli, the municipality of Aesch and the Basel-Landschaft Office for Environmental Protection and Energy and forms the basis for the municipality's heat planning.

Energy renovation rates in the building sector

Various federal and cantonal energy and climate policy measures are aimed at significantly increasing the energy renovation rate. Based on this comprehensive survey, the report shows how the energy renovation rate has developed in recent years and how high it currently is.

Net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector | TEP Energy

Together with partners, TEP Energy is developing methodological principles (F0) based on the WLCNN method, examining the achievability of net-zero targets (F1) using technical and economic scenarios and developing implementation strategies (F2, F3) with technical and political concepts. In addition, existing standards are analysed in order to harmonize regulations and ensure comparability (F4).

Low-temperature district heating networks. The basis for modernizing the heat sector.

Renewable energies and waste heat sources are to replace the coal and natural gas sources that have dominated Polish district heating networks up to now. 

First and foremost, this requires a reduction of the system temperature. The study shows the technical, regulatory and organisational measures required to achieve this
and determines the overall potential for decarbonising district heating in Poland.

Energy Policy Simulator

TEP Energy is supporting the San Francisco based think tank Energy Innovation in the expansion of its Energy Policy Simulator (EPS).

SURE - SUstainable and REsilient energy for Switzerland

Sweet - SURE analyses the impact of disruptive events on the Swiss energy system. TEP Energy is working on energy demand topics such as the development of demand for energy sources in Switzerland, the impact of shocks on the demand load and the potential use of large heat pumps.

Future of Gas Study

TEP analysed the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of buildings of residential and service sector in EU27 countries to model different pathways of fossil fuel substitution.

MEDIUS

MEDIUS bridges the gap between green finance and green projects to decarbonize buildings at scale.

Country-specific Market Reports for Buildings

Building Market Briefs (BMB) is a Climate KIC initiative within the flagship Building Technologies Accelerator (BTA) that aims to gather and promote knowledge about the buildings' and construction sector to promote low carbon investment and scaling.

Heating Initiative Switzerland

On behalf of the Swiss Heating Initiative (WIS), the decarbonization of the heating sector will be examined by 2050. Spatial potential analyzes and the Swiss building stock model (GPM) are used.

CoolCity

Assessment of the potential for lake water use for heating and cooling in the city of Zurich

Energy-Saving Contracting

Increasing energy efficiency is one of the central pillars of Swiss energy policy and energy-saving contracting contributes to this goal.