WOERGL FIT4SET

The city of Woergl began the initiative “Woergl unsere Energie” (“Energy for Woergl”) to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2025. The project includes the restructuring of the South Tyrol settlement and constitutes the basis for a master plan for urban development, construction measures, energy supply, transportation and society. This will increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, involving stakeholders in the process.

Initial situation

The “Energy for Woergl” initiative to protect the climate and environment makes Woergl one of the most dynamic cities in Tyrol. Public utility services in Woergl have put the focus on self-sufficiency with local resources such as hydropower, photovoltaic systems and local heating networks. The development plan produced in 2009/10 established energy consumption (for heating, hot water and electricity) goals and self supply scenarios for 2025. Workshops and negotiations took place in 2010 between the city of Woergl, public services, the housing company “Neue Heimat Tirol” and the University of Innsbruck regarding the restructuring of the South Tyrol settlement. It was agreed to develop the 27,000 m² city quarter is a demonstration project for an overall regional plan to ensure future social and technological changes to improve the quality of life and take climate protection into account.

Vision developed

The goal is for Woergl to be energy self-sufficient by 2050 with the exception of transportation. That means that the city will produce more energy from local resources than it consumes.
This will make considerable contributions to climate protection. The value created by a local energy production will be returned to residents as much is possible. A staged expansion of the energy programs to other communities in the region is planned.

Action plan developed

Buildings

• Increased support for thermal renovation measures
• Training of caretakers by Energie Tirol
• Establishment of energy management
• The South Tyrol settlement demonstration project

Urban development

• Increase density for the main development axis east/west
• Plan for a new construction area in the east for a city of close access

Mobility

• A mobility campaign for youth together with the province of Tyrol
• Increasing the attractiveness of pedestrian and cycle paths
• Private motorized transport restrictions (parking space availability)

Energy

• Development of an integrated power supply strategy for the city of Woergl
• An analysis of potential for renewable sources of energy (particularly solar energy, industrial waste heat and environmental heat)
• Increased use of renewable energy sources, specifically the Brixentaler Ache hydropower plant and the “CraftWerk” wood gasification plant in Gamma
• Increased support for heat pumps

Awareness education

• Free consultation for energy and renovation planning
• Ongoing city magazine reports on energy topics
• Ongoing energy meetings with all policy committees

Outlook

The Smart City project has enabled Woergl to identify further reliable partners and more opportunities for saving energy. Based on experience from the project the focus is now on promoting greater awareness in policy committees to be able to implement in the future the measures indicated. It was also reviewed to what extent the measures cited can be implemented as examples based on the impending restructuring of the South Tyrol settlement, to create a demonstration project for Woergl and similar cities.