General information
As one of the flagship cities in Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, Dresden will serve as a high-tech and innovation cluster for other cities. The Saxon state capital is focusing, among other things, on the expansion of renewable energies and the development of guidelines for sustainable construction. What makes the Dresden project unique is that it aims to create a neighbourhood with a positive and clean energy balance, which currently consists of two different locations and combines the two most common types of buildings in Germany and Europe: multi-storey residential buildings and detached buildings in open residential developments.
Target values
- Economical
- Ecological
- Social
Content focus
- Process design
Innovation type
- Technical
Funding
- Public, federal state
Research orientation
Research design
At present, technical measures are being tested in two selected urban districts to determine whether and how low-emission and energy-positive urban districts can be realised. The effectiveness of the technical measures, which are accompanied by social actions, is quantified by means of an empirical comparison with a reference state prior to implementation of the measures. For this purpose, comprehensive project monitoring has been set up. The technical measures include, for example, optimisation of consumer heating systems in buildings supplied with district heating, the installation of digitally networked district heating house stations with locally integrated renewable energies, thermally activated building facades, large heat pumps for sector coupling and bidirectional charging stations for electric mobility.
Research questions
A two-year monitoring phase will use selected technical, ecological, economic and social indicators and key figures to determine whether the project-relevant neighbourhoods have achieved the goal of generating a net energy surplus while remaining greenhouse gas neutral. One key measure will be to reduce temperatures in the district heating network without compromising security of supply or drinking water hygiene requirements. Heat demand will be reduced through target value optimisation, the use of decentralised heat storage systems and heat pumps, and the integration of renewable energy.
Cooperation
Type of co-creation
Those collaborating in the project pursue the co-creation approach intensively in only one phase of the project. In addition, the co-creation approach is applied in cross-process phases by involving people with practical and professional experience in decision-making about how to proceed.
Society involvement
Organised civil society and/or local society exchange ideas with the project managers. The decision-making power lies with the scientists.
Continuation of the project
- Anträge zum Aufbau auf die erarbeitenden Ergebnisse im Rahmen der IBA
Constellation of actors
Scientific involvements
- Dresden University of Technology, Chair of Building Energy Technology and Heat Supply, Institute of Building Climate Control
Actors in administration
- State Capital Dresden, Office for Economic Development
Economic actors
- SachsenEnergie AG
- EA Systems Dresden GmbH
- Vonovia SE
- WiD Wohnen in Dresden GmbH & Co. KG
Organization and decision-making
Constellation of actors in daily project work
The project participants form an interdisciplinary consortium that combines local and technical expertise. The City of Dresden coordinates the project and, together with the municipal urban development company STESAD GmbH, is responsible for citizen participation and public relations. Two chairs at TU Dresden (the Chair of Building Energy Technology and Heat Supply and the Chair of Building Physics) are responsible for scientific management and are developing and testing measures for climate-friendly district supply. The energy supplier SachsenEnergie AG is contributing its expertise in the areas of renewable energies, district heating and grid infrastructure. Vonovia SE is implementing energy modernisation measures and PV solutions in its properties. The engineering firm EA Systems Dresden GmbH is providing support in the form of energy consulting and energy system modelling.
The collaboration focuses on the interfaces between measure design, implementation and public relations/participation at the project locations. Regular coordination takes place in a weekly online meeting and in quarterly consortium meetings, supplemented by exchange and networking formats with the European partner cities.
At the same time, work is underway to establish an informal network (‘CN Lab’) within the city administration and society that will bundle and consolidate climate protection and climate adaptation activities in the long term.
Project management
Several local stakeholders are involved in the project: the municipal administration (city council), municipal energy suppliers, the housing industry, research institutions and engineering service providers. The city council is responsible for coordination. The Neutralpath project is funded by the EU. There are other activities with the same overarching objective in Zaragoza (Spain). The cities of Ghent, Istanbul and Vantaa are other partner cities in the EU project that are to imitate and adapt specific implementation measures.
The EU-funded “NEUTRALPATH” project thus promotes international exchange, networking and cooperation with other project partners in Europe.
Agreements and decisions
The tasks to be carried out in the project are discussed and debated in regular project meetings; decisions are usually made jointly. In order to make important decisions that influence the course of the project or its central content, a two-thirds majority of the entire European project consortium is required.
Result and effect
Results and impacts in terms of affordability and other ecological and social target values
The project is currently in the implementation phase and will move into the monitoring phase in 2026. The aim is to deliver affordable results that will help achieve climate neutrality.
Not only will the maturity of technical concepts be improved with the aim of deploying marketable technology, but the concepts developed should also be financially viable and ensure a long-term, price-stable energy supply.
Consideration of the EU taxonomy and ESG criteria
See “Result and impact”.
Experiences
Helpful insights & solutions
Findings
- Research design:
- Measures are aimed at achieving the European Union's Green Deal. They offer energy suppliers, for example, an opportunity to gear their heat supply towards the future.
- Process design:
- The project is very extensive and requires a strict hierarchy. On the one hand, project content must be bundled into thematically related ‘interventions’ and subdivided into individual ‘actions’. The entire project consortium must be represented by a representative who is responsible for communication with the project officer and funding agency.
- Actors involved and their role in the process:
- The project partners should act jointly in their regions and report research results to the central project coordinator through a designated person. If a project partner is working on several tasks, clear hierarchies of responsibility must be established and sub-project managers appointed.
- Funding:
- Funding is paid out after the submission of project progress reports and within fixed project periods.
- The financing must be estimated at the start of the project based on the available information when submitting a project proposal and structured in a comprehensible manner. Each measure (action) must be allocated resources according to its cost. Changes during the course of the project are likely and require a project amendment, which must be coordinated centrally, prepared uniformly and submitted by the project coordinator. Since NEUTRALPATH primarily involves R&D, funding is mainly based on expenditure.
Solutions/success factors
Centrally coordinated project management with hierarchical structures is necessary to coordinate project content and reports.
Further information