The Austrian solar district heating plant ‘Fernheizwerk Graz’ was awarded the 2nd prize of the ESCO Award at the EnEff district heating fair in Frankfurt, Germany. It was awarded for both the technical and the financial solutions.

In April the international district heating conference EnEff, organized by  the German association AGFW and the European association Euroheat&Power, took place in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. In this framework the ESCO Award was given by AGFW and the journal Energy & Management. ESCO stands for ‘Energy Service Company’. Best practice projects which deliver heat at significantly reduced costs and emissions are awarded. ESCO is a groundbreaking financial instrument to implement environmentally friendly projects for energy supply at reduced costs for customers.The only award winner with renewable technology and the only one from outside Germany was the Austrian company SOLID with its project ‘Solar thermal feed-in at gas district heating plant, financed by crowd funding’. The jury was convinced by the good combination of the solar thermal plant with the gas-fired district heating plant as well as the innovative financing. The solar plant of 7450 m² was financed by climate funds and civic participation.