CapEx & financing
From invest to heat.
Four utilities, three hours live in Invest Core, discussion right at the screens: the workshop on 29 September closed the quarter on Capex & financing. Here is what the group produced, what goes back into the product — and how the fourth quarter continues with the lead theme of heat, this time together with STAWAG Aachen.
Recap & outlook · 14 minutes
Fifteen minutes
on the quarter.
Lukas Schomberg sums up the workshop of 29 September and looks ahead to the fourth quarter. Use the chapters to jump straight to the part that interests you. The video is in German.
Q3 review · different perspectives, one conclusion
Three sessions,
one line.
Kick-off
Market situation and investment pressure, plus CapEx live in the steering model.
Deep dive
Market situation and the banks' view from two guest perspectives, plus project development in the demo.
Wrap-up
Closing workshop, hybrid in Dortmund and online: four utilities, three hours live in Invest Core.
Q3 review · what remains from three sessions
What we took away.
Investment pressure meets an implementation gap
Investment management and financing top the industry's trend list. In digital implementation maturity, the same topic comes last.
Capital needs an end-to-end model
Banks are reaching their sector limits. Anyone who wants capital has to plan ten years and more, in one model that links P&L, balance sheet and cash flow.
From measure to bankability
Investment, loans, liquidity, project development and bank reporting are one cascade, not five tools. In the workshop we played it through live.
The standard is built with the utilities
The workshop confirmed the gap: the topic is set, digital implementation is just beginning. What the group contributes goes back into the product.
29 Sep 2026 · Invest Core closing workshop · Dortmund and online
Three hours of invest,
live and together.
bdg ONE 3.0 at a glance, then Invest Core: measure, scoring and approval, CapEx, loans, balance sheet impact, project development through to bankability. Instead of breakout groups, the discussion happened right at the screens — open and honest, on site and online.
on site and online, three municipal utilities and one project developer
out of a three-hour workshop
discussed along the demo
from bdg, made in the workshop
Result · from the discussion at the screens
What is shared,
what differs.
Budgets, measures, value limits
Planning in budget pools and WBS elements, individual measures only at realisation. Approval in stages up to management, for large projects the supervisory board.
CapEx by cost type
Material, external and own work, grants, fixed overhead rates from controlling: three utilities plan “exactly alike”.
Central financing
Loans, funding needs and minimum liquidity per company in central controlling, not in the measure; project companies kept separate.
Scattered data
SAP/WBS and BW for actuals, Excel for models and banks, plus industry tools. The gap: continuity through to liquidity and the banks' view.
Project development
A core topic for project developers and utilities with their own generation; for others a “matter for specialists” or not present at all.
Roles and depth
Who works in the screens? Engineering does not plan standard measures itself; large projects get commercial support. Screens per role instead of one for everyone.
Priorities
Quick wins: measures and approval, CapEx with payment dates, commitments and actuals from SAP. For two utilities first: project development, bankability, scenarios.
Maturity
From the manual spreadsheet to WBS-based planning with BW actuals; integrated steering is the goal for everyone.
The same core topic in every utility, but far apart in depth and maturity. That is exactly what makes the standard valuable: whatever goes into it, every utility gets.
Back into the product · Invest Core and project development
What goes into the product.
Six pieces of feedback from the group — and what bdg makes of them.
CapEx by cost type
From the group: material, external and own work, grants, fixed overhead rates. What it becomes: cost types and overhead rates in detailed CapEx planning, grants per measure.
Financing does not belong in the measure
From the group: it runs centrally per company. What it becomes: debt ratio and minimum liquidity out of the measure screen; loans and liquidity as a cross-section.
Project development
From the group: revenue from commissioning with ramp-up, assumptions per milestone, standard technologies in one click. What it becomes: technology templates, milestone assumptions, handover to the operating company.
Specific KPIs per measure
From the group: grid length, meters, substations — “What did we get for it?” What it becomes: KPIs per measure as input and in the cockpit.
Who works in the screens?
From the group: engineering does not plan standard measures itself; approval categories instead of a workflow in planning. What it becomes: screens per role, approval by value limit and board requirement, flexible workflow.
Presentation
From the group: companies and WBS with names instead of keys, dates instead of numbers, show and hide charts. What it becomes: fine-tuning in the screens.
Everything from the workshop is documented and handed over to development. Whatever goes into the standard, every utility gets, at no extra cost.
Feedback · at the end of the workshop, from the notes (translated)
What the group said.
We honestly have stars in our eyes, because this is exactly what we do in Excel today.
Excel reaches its limits, especially when you want to run simulations and switch measures on and off.
We need one solution from project development through to operation, from start to finish.
What you showed, all the way to the bank report, already covers a great deal.
Always good to see that I made the right decision, given everything the program can do.
The opportunity to help develop the platform and set standards that fit us.
Outlook · Q4 2026
Heat is the investment topic
of the coming years.
From municipal heat planning to an implementation that stays economically manageable. This time together with STAWAG Aachen.
Municipal heat planning. The plans are in place or under way; now they have to become a business that pays off.
Grid expansion and generation mix. District heating, local heat networks, neighbourhoods, large heat pumps: different price formulas, different risks.
CO₂ and price adjustment. Fuel emissions trading (BEHG), heat mix, price escalation clauses: the margin depends on drivers that move every year.
The bridge to invest. Heat is the largest CapEx programme for many utilities. Q3 showed how the impact runs all the way into cash flow.
bdg · Q4 outlook
What bdg brings.
Heat as its own driver tree
Connections, connected load, full-load hours, base and energy price, heat mix with CO₂, grid costs: generation, grid and sales in one tree.
Heat in Energy Core
Planned bottom-up, contribution margin per division, handover into P&L, balance sheet and cash flow; Invest supplies grid expansion and generation assets.
Heat planning as a sub-module
Supply points, neighbourhoods, connection rates, expansion paths. We are building this in Q4 with STAWAG Aachen; the Circle helps shape the standard.
Experience from projects
District heating, contracting, property supply: what we have learned from implementations flows into the standard.
Honest about where we stand: the heat driver tree is under construction, heat planning as a sub-module is in development. That is why the Circle exists.
What comes next
Heat planning & the heat transition · Online · 27 Oct 2026, 16:30 — From municipal heat planning to delivery that stays economically manageable.
Q4 is more compact than usual. After the Circle on 27 October, STAWAG Aachen reports online from its implementation on 17 November, 30 minutes. We wrap up on 1 December on site in Aachen — then it is off to the Christmas market together.
At the next event
be there.
The Circle continues — your email is enough, the calendar does the rest.