"Plus-energy neighbourhoods stand for neighbourhood solutions with heat pumps in which more energy is provided than consumed over the course of the year," explains Lukas Oppelt, research assistant at the Chair of Technical Thermodynamics. He was recently appointed to the German delegation of the working group, which met at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg at the end of November, due to his expertise in the development of mine water as a heat source.

"Participation in the Annex makes it possible to transfer solutions developed at TU Bergakademie Freiberg to other countries and to help shape the energy supply there in a sustainable way. Plus-energy districts offer real solutions for all regions that were characterised by mining and now have disused and flooded mines," explains Oppelt.

TUBAF projects in the Ore Mountains could be a model

"Together, we investigated, for example, how a tool developed in Japan for the simple conceptual design of heat pumps can be transferred to Europe or how energy requirements in southern Europe will develop in comparison to central Europe," says Oppelt. Simulations of various network and supply concepts showed how a heat pump can save around twenty per cent of the operating costs of a heating network: two districts from the Ore Mountains, which are to be supplied with heat from mine water, served as examples (Aue Bad-Schlema, Montanregion Erzgebirge).