A2A, a multi-utility company, manages the DH system in Brescia and 16 other cities in the North of Italy, including Milan and Bergamo, through A2A Calore e Servizi. The utility has been supplying heat to Brescia (200.000 inhabitants), since 1972 and as of 2024, it provided heat to approximately 20,500 substations across residential, commercial, industrial, and public sectors. In alignment with the municipality’s forward-thinking mindset, the utility embarked on a decarbonization journey in 2015. This initiative included enhancements in the existing CHP with DeNOx treatment, the installation of heat recovery stations from industrial processes (35MWt), which recover heat from two nearby steel production facilities, the installation of heat pumps recovering heat from the Flue Gas of the WtE plant (60MWt), the installation of TES (11.600m3) distributed across plants in the city to manage peak loads, and the installation of a PV system (250kW) to reduce auxiliary consumption. As a result, the utility eliminated coal from its energy mix in 2020. In 2024, the DH system utilized 17% natural gas, of which 12% high efficient cogeneration and 83% non-fossil fuels. Compared to 2016 baseline, CO2 emissions decreased by 73%, NOx emissions by 92%, and SO2 emissions by 100%. In June 2025, the utility will inaugurate its first waste heat recovery from data center. In the future, the utility will include more RE and WH to further reduce fossil use and contribute to Brescia’s decarbonization.
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