The Municipality of Maniago is a local authority that administers an area of about 69 square kilometers, where approximately 12,000 inhabitants live. Thanks to the historical presence of services, commerce, and craftsmanship, as well as a significant industrial zone, the town serves as a reference point for a large part of the foothill and mountainous area of the province of Pordenone. Agriculture is also an important economic sector.
Maniago territory also includes natural areas, both in the plains and in the mountains, which feature plant and animal species of great interest; this has led to the identification of 2 Natura 2000 sites.
The Municipality was already involved in the Interreg VA Italia-Austria 2014-2020 project Idee, which chose the Maniago territory as a study case for “integrated urban areas energy systems design.”
Due to the strong presence of industrial plants – mainly related to metalworking- the local authority wants to implement all solutions to achieve the best possible air quality, encouraging both economic activities, citizens, and public entities to adopt renewable heat production systems and low-emission systems. The Municipality joined the Covenant of Mayors in 2015 and, in 2018, adopted its Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP). It is also committed to promoting sustainable mobility by creating cycling and pedestrian paths.
As stated by SEAP, district heating can significantly improve air quality by reducing pollution caused by building heating.
Right now, the main source of heating in the territory is methane; the Interreg project IDEE underlined that 42% of the surveyed households use renewable energy sources to meet their homes’ thermal needs.
In the Maniago territory there is a relevant organic waste treatment plant, owned by Bioman, a private company, which produces electricity, methane, carbon dioxide and heat from biogas. In 2020 the company was authorized by regional authority to build a district heating infrastructure which can use waste heat from biogas co-generators. Recently, the company asked permission to increase electricity and heat generation up to 52 MW, using a solid biomass combustion plant; the waste heat recovery from this process will be used in a new DHN to be designed and built by the company. The regional authority imposed this condition to the proposing company in order to achieve maximum environmental benefit, so the proponent must reach an agreement with the Municipality concerning the DHN.
Additional funding and network skills provided by the HEAT35 will create a better knowledge of the topic for the authority and the community and will accompany the development of the new DHN, with particular reference to:
- energy needs of the territory including hours, types and amount of power that different kinds of users need;
- characteristic of production of waste energy in the territory;
- Strategy for the rational use of excess heat, in accordance with what is provided by the company in question;
- network features;
- conditions applied to public and private final users (e.g. the price of heat).