Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, August 5 2022 – An experimental temperature-neutral district heating network that will connect three buildings, two owned by the municipality and a private condominium in via Balilla, from which the project takes its name.

The Council approved the guidelines for the use of underground water, coming from wells to control the rise of the aquifer within the Resistance Park, in Municipality 5, through heat pump energy systems.

This is a work that is integrated into the framework of the Administration's broader commitment to respecting the environment, established in Article 1 of the Statute of the Municipality of Milan as well as envisaged by the Air and Climate Plan and the environmental transition protocol, included in the single programming document 2022-2024.

The construction of Balilla, a project developed by A2a Calore &servizi Srl, which therefore uses groundwater wells originally intended for another function, is estimated to lead to a potential reduction in climate-altering and polluting emissions, equal to 27,3 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 74 kilograms of NOx and 3 kg of PM10, in one year. Furthermore, the share of groundwater reintroduced will allow a saving of approximately 3,5% on the costs incurred each year by the municipal administration for the maintenance and management of the wells involved.

The company will create a neutral temperature district heating network (15 degrees centigrade) in the public underground which will connect a private condominium, currently heated by an obsolete oil boiler, and two municipal buildings, namely the Civic Center in viale Tibaldi and the School Giambologna, located in via Giambologna.

District heating and heat pumps are indicated, both in the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) and in the Climate Area Plan (CAP), as technologies whose diffusion makes it possible to reduce emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, to promote a sustainable use of water and energy sources, to use renewable and clean energy sources as well as to improve the quality of the city's air.

This is an innovative project with which the A2a Calore &servizi Srl company participated in the European REWARDHeat tender, emerging as the winner and obtaining funding of 453.933 euros, and which the Municipality, committed to the overall reduction of the city's carbon footprint and exploitation of renewable resources, intends to experiment in order to replicate it in other areas of the city.