TL; DR
A new river source heat pump in my home city of Nürnberg shows all the elements that must come together for a solution to be "DVFA" innovation.
In particular, this manages to be acceptable/ agreeable, which is where many innovation teams fall flat.
One might even go one step further and argue that "innovation" is less of the concern here. Instead, it's more about "company evolution," which is the ultimate outcome that we are going for anyway.
The story
N-Ergie, the local utility company in Nürnberg, Germany, is working to switch over from incumbent energy sources–especially gas and waste incineration–with more sustainable ones.
As part of that effort, they plan to install a water source heat pump in the river Rednitz. While the Rednitz is a small river, it may still deliver 15 to 20 megawatts of power, enough to supply the surrounding suburbs.
This project would only be a small initial solution. A larger solution is currently still blocked by broader logistic factors. But the current effort may serve as a proof of concept and value-adding first step.
[Source: Michael Reiner. Bayerischer Rundfunk (2024)]
The point for doing credible innovation work
This article highlights both elements from our Credible Innovation frameworks and from the broader point that innovation serves system evolution. It is not an end in itself.
Showcasing multiple hallmarks of Credible innovation work
This project works for a range of Credible Innovation-related reasons:
Must-do purpose
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, replacing natural gas with other energy sources is a true must-do for Germany–unavoidable and urgent, even beyond the longer-term needs of mitigating climate change.
Notably among the "must-do" components, the project is also "set up for success." Public utility projects are notorious for running into regulatory and right of way challenges. But because this effort relies on existing infrastructure, [f]urther interventions in nature are hardly necessary," and there is relatively little extra bureaucratic effort.
System-level, not product-level innovation. Aka: No orthodoxy
Innovation purists only consider something to be "true" innovation if it focuses on a new product or service. That's silly but massively engrained. Here though, "[h]eat pumps are not rocket science ...." The solution itself isn't special. The innovation comes from changing the entire system
Modularity/ "folded timelines" offering real value
A bigger, more impactful solution is currently blocked by (literal) roadblocks elsewhere.
"The district heating pipes are laid on a pedestrian bridge here - thick, silver-insulated pipes. In future, the heat will be transported through these from the power plant in the south to the large consumers in the city center. At the moment, the heat flows in the other direction from the center to the suburbs. But the capacity of the pipes is too low; they are too small. This is a bottleneck that is slowing down the project.
"'Building new and larger lines will be expensive,' says Villnow. The canal and the highway have to be crossed under. Or new bridges have to be built. The costs for this are high. And they make the heat from the river expensive."
But even this smaller project already offers real value. It's not merely a proof of concept. Note the use of words like "sensible" in the following quote:
"Nevertheless, the project is relevant for N-Ergie, says Villnow. 'You can use it as a first step and try to do what would already be sensible and feasible.' That's why N-Ergie and Uniper are initially concentrating on the small solution."
It's evolution more than innovation
The article points out that the core solution here is not that fancy.
"Heat pumps are not rocket science. They work like 'an upside-down refrigerator' ...."
In other words, innovation orthodoxy might scoff at it.
But crucially, that is exactly what enables them to support energy grid evolution. There are plenty of other problems to solve. And an untested solution would just add extra risks that might scuttle the whole project.
It's the very ordinariness that makes innovation work at a broader, system level, not just within the solution itself.
Footnotes
Original story
🇺🇸🇬🇧🇮🇳🇦🇺 English auto-translation (For your convenience only. Translation quality not guaranteed.)
More context on the potential of heat pumps in Bavaria (German)
Credits
Photo "Heat Pump QQ" by Dfpearson on Wikimedia. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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