The introduction of a district heating system for the city of Bitola and its surroundings is an idea that has existed for decades in the past. The idea of introducing a heating system by using the heating energy from REK Bitola may also be seen as a kind of social responsibility of ESM to the city of Bitola and its surroundings, having in mind the significant impact of REK Bitola on the environment. On the other hand, it is important to note that, when it comes to consumption, the use of heating energy will replace a considerable amount of the electricity, oil and wood that is currently used for heating. The implementation of this project will replace the use of electricity for heating to a great extent, thus increasing the level of safety and security of the electricity distribution grid.

In terms of energy efficiency, the heating source of a district heating system with sizeable capacity and equipped with a modern system of regulation and automation of the heating energy generation process has a significant advantage over the individual heating sources used by the consumers. The possibility of heating energy generation was considered as early as in the stage of construction of REK Bitola, i.e. during the stage of its design.

In 2012, “Ekonerg” from Croatia began its work on the Feasibility Study, which provided the main guidelines for the implementation of the project itself.

The implementation of the first stage of modernization of REK Bitola’s turbines envisages the installation of appropriate equipment for recovery of steam from the turbines, to allow for the generation of heating energy; this is practically the start of realization of the idea.

In addition to the positive financial parameters for the feasibility and acceptability of the project, the positive parameters of the comparative analyzes of the price of the competitive fuels with the competitive fuels from the aspect of environmental protection and energy efficiency, which results in:

Reduction of emissions from combustion of wood, household and coal fuel in small domestic stoves as well as in furnaces of public and commercial buildings, SOx, NOx, CO, etc. ;

• Reduction of CO₂ emissions at the level of R. Macedonia;
• Improving the quality of ambient air;
• Improving the quality of the agricultural arable land;
• Reduction of noise;
• Reduction of negative impacts on natural ecosystems;
• Safe and continuous supply of thermal energy;
• Reducing the likelihood of possible inadequate treatment of waste oil in the preparation, which is used for heating;
• Reduction of respiratory diseases;
• Increasing the quality and service of living;
• Reducing the consumption of electricity used for heating the premises;
• Reduction of losses in distribution of electricity to low voltage and high voltage networks;
• Optimization of the energy resources used for heating the premises in individual objects.