In the first days of November, the gas industry in Ljubljana celebrates its 150th birthday and 50 years of its district heat supply.

It was in the far-off year of 1861 when on 9 November Ljubljana cafes, workshops and houses witnessed the switch-on of the first gas lamps, and ten days later gas lamps first lit up the city streets. The use of gas in Ljubljana has gone up decade after decade, for domestic hot water and later for residential heating.

The next great milestone of gas use in Ljubljana was in 1978, when on 1 December the Koseze plant took its first quantities of natural gas from the main pipeline network, imported from the then Soviet Union. In July 1990 the production of town gas ceased entirely and the same year all consumers in Ljubljana were hooked up to natural gas supply. The replacement and repair of the pipeline network for the introduction of natural gas ran from 1978 all the way to 1990.

Today, the Energetika Ljubljana public company takes care of the distribution and supply of gas across the territory of the City of Ljubljana and seven neighbouring local authorities, Medvode, Škofljica, Brezovica, Ig, Dobrova - Polhov Gradec, Dol pri Ljubljani and Log - Dragomer. The total length of the supply network amounts to 620 km and the natural gas system in and around Ljubljana now provides a common supply to more than 59,000 end users.

The supply of gas did not much change or ease life for the residents of Ljubljana until exactly 50 years ago with the introduction of district heating. Ljubljana has a well-developed district hot water supply, the largest in Slovenia and comparable with elsewhere in Europe. It is based on combined heat and power and has two major energy sources, which use diverse fuel sources, enabling safe, reliable and economic supply.

As early as 1959 it was ascertained by experts that there were potential users of heat that would need it for technological and heating purposes. Around the same time it was realised that the introduction of district heating would win not only new consumers but was also likely to lead to significant improvements in air quality in the Ljubljana basin.

Thus it was that in 1961 the old city thermo-electric plant on Slomškova ulica was converted into a boiler room and the first building – a nearby primary school – was provided with heat.

The construction of a new heating plant in Moste got underway in 1963 and ran for several years in various phases. In 1965 the installation took place of the primary hot water pipeline from the future heating plant under construction to Slomškova ulica and steam heating pipes to Ljubljana hospital.

In 1970 construction of a second heating plant began in Šiška, work on which proceeded in several phases. Two years later a split took place between Ljubljana Heating (Toplarna Ljubljana) in Moste and its Municipal Energy unit, Komunalna Energetika, which became a separate company. Since then, Ljubljana Heating (today Ljubljana Thermo Electric Heating, Termoeleketrarna toplarna Ljubljana) has taken care of the production of electricity and heat while Ljubljana Municipal Energy (now Energetika Ljubljana) has dealt with the comprehensive distribution of heat and peak heating production from the heating plant in Šiška. Today in Ljubljana the district heating network comprises 255 km of hot water pipelines, with 25,500 end users connected to it.

Energetika Ljubljana