As part of a public service management contract, the Greater Dijon joint district authority has appointed Dalkia to manage its heating network for 25 years.
The 30 kilometer low-temperature network will provide heat to homes (including many located in eco-districts) and public installations. The network will have two heat generation units: a 30 megawatt biomass heating plant to the south of the city that, once it reaches full capacity, will be fired by some 50,000 metric tons of biomass sourced mainly from the region's public and private forests as well as using by-products from the region's wood-processing industry; and a waste-to-energy plant to the north of the city that processes Greater Dijon's household waste.
As much as 80% of the heat will therefore be generated from renewable and recovered energy.
The choice of biomass as a fuel will also help to strengthen the local wood-energy sector, which predicts that it will create 20 new jobs that are safe from the risk of relocation. The creation of this heating network, which is in line with the objectives set out by France's Grenelle Environment Forum, is supported by the Heat Fund of Ademe, France's Environment and Energy Management Agency.