Communal energy planning

An energy planning strategy is targeted at coordinating the energy supply in a municipality or a region and adapting it to the structural development of the municipalities. The objective is to use local renewable energies as efficiently as possible, increase local added value, gain more autonomy and become independent of fossil fuels. With a communal energy planning the municipality coordinates its future energy supply at the planning level. Areas with priority for a particular energy source and locations for energy generation plants are secured on a spatial planning level. The contents of the energy plan are binding for the authorities and can be incorporated as binding for private landowners, for instance in a special use planning (“Sondernutzungsplan”).

In the municipality of Glarus, the future fields of action include increasing the energy efficiency of the communal property portfolio and optimizing the use of energy from waste heat and environmental sources. In addition, the efficient, economical and ecologically sinsible expansion of grid-bound energy sources is to be ensured, for example for the replacement of oil heating systems in heritage-protected buildings.

Based on the current situation and the local potentials, targets for energy planning were defined. Taking into account the expected development, the potential for efficiency as well as existing and potential energy sources, intep has created a map with areas in which a particular energy source has priority or is suitable. Short-, medium- and long-term measures related to the defined areas were elaborated by intep for the duration of the planning horizon of the energy planning, and the corresponding monitoring was listed.