The network, which is an initiative of Warmtebedrijf Rotterdam, will enable reuse of residual heat released during industrial processes in the Rotterdam port. The heat will be transported to Rotterdam-Zuid along a 26km route.
Work is to start in the spring and last for about a year and a half. Visser & Smit Hanab will be laying a 26km underground pipe network as well as installations such as heat transfer and pump stations. The activities include various rail, road and waterway intersections. After that, Visser & Smit Hanab will be responsible for the upkeep of the complete installation for 15 years. Once the heat network is ready in mid-2013, it will be producing a volume of renewable heat equalling the heat consumption of approximately 50,000 households.
A huge amount of heat is released in industrial processes in the port of Rotterdam - heat that now disappears into the atmosphere or is discharged into water. The project is aimed at obviating the need for a great many individual, gas-heated central heating boilers. The heat network is set to reduce the annual CO2 discharge by some 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes, calculations by the Rotterdam council have shown.
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