ETH Zurist
Summary
The City of Zurich intends to take over ETH’s district heating system in the Zentrum area. With the sale, ETH is strengthening its focus and is drawing a line under a situation that has developed over time.
From the 1940s onwards, research in large-scale heating systems, namely steam turbines, large boilers and heat exchangers, increased in importance at ETH Zurich. The resulting waste heat was used initially to heat university buildings and later also neighbouring properties around the ML/FHK building. Over the years, a district heating network developed around the Zentrum campus.
Today, ETH no longer uses the facilities for research or teaching. However, the system continues to supply district heating to 29 properties used by ETH as well as 142 private and municipal buildings. Steam from the City of Zurich’s Hagenholz waste incineration plant is primarily used for this purpose. The steam is detensioned into hot water in the district heating power station in the ML building and fed to the respective customers via the distribution network.
The operation and maintenance of district heating is not part of ETH’s core tasks and of no interest to ETH from a business perspective, although the network is largely in good condition and the power station was recently renovated. Moreover, there is no legal basis for the further expansion of the network and the addition of new customers.
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