On 17 July 2025, experts from municipal utilities, industry, research and the energy sector came together for the webinar “Innovative Heating Networks and Neighborhood Solutions – Technologies and Best Practices”, organised as part of a three-part webinar series by VKU and Bayern Innovativ, with the involvement of Prof. Volker Stockinger from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg Simon Ohm.
The webinar addressed one of the key challenges facing municipalities and municipal utilities today: how to translate municipal heat planning into practical, technically feasible and economically viable solutions. Through real-life examples, the programme explored innovative district heating technologies, renewable energy integration, large heat pumps, heat storage, combined heat and power solutions and new approaches to neighbourhood energy systems.
IN-Campus: from an industrial site to a zero-energy district
A key contribution came from Markus Faigl, Project Manager at IN-Campus and INTERSTORES partner, who presented “Cold district heating concept of the IN-Campus, a technology park on the way to becoming a zero-energy district.”
The presentation provided a concrete example of how innovative heating and cooling infrastructure, renewable energy sources, thermal storage and intelligent energy management can be combined at district scale.
IN-Campus in Ingolstadt is one of the two main INTERSTORES demonstration sites and represents the project’s Reno-sTES approach – transforming existing infrastructure into seasonal thermal energy storage. The former refinery site is being redeveloped into a 75-hectare research and development campus equipped with a low-temperature LowEx network connecting decentralised energy sources and consumers.
Within INTERSTORES, existing concrete fire-water and water-treatment basins at the site are being repurposed as water-gravel seasonal thermal energy storage systems. The concept shows how existing infrastructure can play a new role in future energy systems instead of requiring entirely new storage facilities. The final multi-storage configuration at IN-Campus is planned to reach a volume of up to 29,000 m³, with a projected storage capacity of 806 MWh.
Markus Faigl’s presentation therefore provided webinar participants with an important real-world example of the technologies being developed and demonstrated through INTERSTORES: integrating seasonal thermal storage into an innovative district energy system while making use of existing infrastructure and supporting the transition towards climate-neutral neighbourhoods.
Technologies and best practices across the heating sector
The broader webinar programme placed the IN-Campus example within a range of complementary approaches for future heating networks.
Following the welcome by Katrin Schiller, Project Manager Cluster Energy Technology at Bayern Innovativ GmbH, Prof. Volker Stockinger from the Nuremberg Institute of Technology/Energie PLUS Concept GmbH provided an overview of innovative district heating technologies.
Stefan Loskarn and Tobias Meyer from Stadtwerke Bamberg presented the Lagarde Campus in Bamberg, demonstrating a neighbourhood energy concept based on renewable energy sources.
The programme then turned to large-scale technologies for district heating. Dr. Klaus Ramming from Ago Energie + Anlagen GmbH discussed the use of large heat pumps in district heating networks, including technological possibilities, implementation challenges, potential and best-practice examples.
A dedicated session focused on heat storage in district heating networks, examining its potential contribution to efficiency improvements and economic performance, as well as the practical challenges of implementation.
Another best-practice example was provided by Basilian Drans from SWS Stadtwerke Stralsund GmbH, together with Energas/Jenbacher, presenting a future-oriented heat supply concept based on combined heat and power (CHP) in Stralsund.
The programme culminated with the IN-Campus contribution by Markus Faigl, followed by an open questions and discussion session with all speakers, giving participants the opportunity to exchange experiences and discuss practical implementation challenges.
Bringing INTERSTORES solutions closer to future users
Participation in events addressing municipalities, municipal utilities, district heating operators, technology providers, planners and energy experts is particularly relevant for INTERSTORES. These actors will play an important role in the future uptake and replication of large-scale seasonal thermal energy storage solutions.
By showcasing the IN-Campus energy concept alongside other innovative heating-network solutions, the webinar demonstrated how seasonal thermal energy storage can become part of integrated, flexible and low-carbon district energy systems.
The IN-Campus demonstrator is providing INTERSTORES with a real-world environment to validate this approach and generate practical knowledge that can support the replication of Reno-sTES solutions at other industrial sites, urban districts and energy networks across Europe.