A Swiss city is has announced it will decommission 80% of its 220km gas grid by 2040, Energy Cities reports.
Citzens of Winterthur, near Zurich, voted in favour of the city reaching climate neutrality by 2040. In an interview with Energy Cities Stefan Fritschi, Head of Technical Operations from the City of Winterthur, Switzerland, said “.. we have not built any new connections to the gas grid for several years. Also, investments in the gas grid are only made where it is mandatory for safety reasons. We used to invest over 3 million in the gas grid every year. Today, not even one. On the other hand, we will invest a lot of money in new district heating networks in the next few years.”
He said biogas, synthetic methane and hydrogen would continue to be required by industry, “But we will no longer heat houses with it, these energy sources are too precious for that. The industry will certainly need large quantities of hydrogen. For these applications, however, we no longer need a pipeline network in residential areas.”
The town plans to decommission around half of the gas grid by 2033 and another 30% by 2040.
Biogas, synthetic methane and hydrogen would continue to be required by industry, “But we will no longer heat houses with it, these energy sources are too precious for that. The industry will certainly need large quantities of hydrogen. For these applications, however, we no longer need a pipeline network in residential areas.”
Read the full interview here