The Aalen heating network connects existing local heating islands to a district heating network.This merger creates a central heating axis through the core city and enables existing heat generation plants such as a 3.3 MW wood chip boiler and a CHP plant to be modernised into the then new Aalen heating network. The new uses in the Stadtoval and other connections along the new district heating routes will increase heat removal and lead to significantly higher utilisation of the wood chip boiler plant and CHP. This has a positive impact on the carbon footprint in the city. In the medium term, this heat generation plant will be supplemented with a heat storage system and an additional electrical heating system, which is powered by electricity from renewable energies. Furthermore, the Aalen heating network creates the basic conditions for making the industrial waste heat available in Aalen in a high degree usable for heating purposes in the future.