GETEC and GreenCom Networks found Joint Venture

With Green Heating, GETEC is presenting a concept that allows the real estate industry to make a cost-neutral switch to a climate-neutral and sustainable supply of energy. In addition to Fossil-to-Green solutions that replace fossil energy supplies with modern and climate-friendly energy systems, the concept also includes a Green eHeating program that GETEC has developed together with leading energy IoT company GreenCom Networks. Through a joint venture, known as GETEC Green Heating GmbH, hundreds of thousands of old electric storage heaters will be replaced in the future with a new, controllable storage heating system powered by green energy.

The new system can achieve significant CO₂ savings in existing buildings and thus make an enormous contribution to combating climate change. The potential is huge: there are currently more than five million storage heaters supplying heat to over 1.4 million households in Germany alone. Almost half of these electric heaters are installed in apartments rented out by housing companies. The average age of these storage heaters is over 20 years, which leads to reduced efficiency, continuously rising energy costs and little comfort for tenants. Replacing the equipment is a good idea and would also create opportunities from an energy perspective: The combined total of all installed storage heaters in Germany could provide 15 TWh of storage capacity per year if they were bundled into virtual power plants, for example. But storage heaters have hardly any digital connections that would allow them to be controlled.

“Currently, storage heaters not only provide little comfort for tenants but also constantly increase energy costs and are usually not digitally connected or controllable. This makes such apartments more difficult to rent out. With GETEC Green eHeating, we eliminate these disadvantages and create a housing solution that not only involves low risk, but also increases the value of the property - without additional costs. At the same time, we save an average of five tons of CO₂ per apartment per year. That's climate protection and sector coupling at its best,“ explains Michael Lowak, Segment CEO Real Estate Management at the GETEC Group.

GETEC Green Heating GmbH offers a contracting product for heat delivered as a service. Old storage heaters are replaced with new, digitally connected and controllable heat storage systems. The offer comes without installation costs in return for a 15-year heat-as-a-service contract and includes all necessary services such as hardware deinstallation and installation as well as operational management, maintenance and billing. With its energy IoT platform, GreenCom Networks links all the storage heating systems involved, optimizes the energy flows and provides operational monitoring of the heating systems, including the virtual power plant. This enables GETEC to take advantage of the load and storage flexibility of the systems.

Peter Müller-Brühl, COO of GreenCom Networks AG, explains, “The GreenCom platform connects and controls all the plants involved in the GETEC Green eHeating products. The integration and optimization of so many plants enables modern heat contracting as a new type of service with futureproof value-added possibilities. At the same time, the 'heat-as-a-service' product creates clear advantages for everyone: tenants enjoy greater comfort and the planning security of a longterm contract with a fixed heating price for years to come. Housing companies increase property values through an improved emissions balance and without additional costs or loss of rent due to renovations or new installations. Ultimately, the energy system acquires additional decentralized storage capacity and marketable flexibility“.

About GETEC

GETEC is a leading partner for industry and the real estate sector delivering smart, efficient and green energy solutions in Germany and beyond. Our promise "We have the energy for more" is the guiding principle for more than 1,500 employees who use their outstanding engineering expertise, excellent regulatory competence, quick action and proven sustainability skills to navigate our customers through an increasingly complex energy world while consistently reducing their carbon footprint. GETEC is active at over 40 locations in eleven countries and generated total operating revenue of around €700 million in 2019.Find out more about the GETEC Group at: www.getec-energyservices.com

About GreenCom Networks
GreenCom Networks is a leading energy IoT company with offices in Munich, Germany and Sophia-Antipolis, France. GreenCom has been developing the energy system of the future since 2011. With its Energy Information Brokerage Platform (eibp), GreenCom integrates distributed assets such as photovoltaic systems, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps. Building on its industry leading platform, GreenCom enables white label endcustomer services such as energy cooperatives and energy flat rates. GreenCom also offers optimization and visualization of energy flows in homes, for utilities and manufacturers of energy-related equipment.
For more information, please visit :www.greencom-networks.com