District Energy St. Paul currently provides heating service to more than 180 buildings and 300 single-family homes, representing over 30.7 million square feet of building space, or 80 percent of St. Paul’s central business district and adjacent areas. Buildings connected to a district heating system do not need boilers and auxiliary equipment, freeing up valuable space for other uses.
Each building has its own heat exchanger and control valve, which transfers thermal energy from the district heating system water to the building’s heating system water. Cooled water is then returned to District Energy’s main plant to be reheated and circulated once again to buildings connected to the system.