12th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling

The <strong>12th</strong> <strong>International</strong> <strong>Symposium</strong> on District Heating and Cooling,September 5 th to September 7 th , 2010, Tallinn, EstoniaBARRIERS TO DISTRICT HEATING DEVELOPMENTIN SOME EUROPEAN COUNTRIESDag Henning 1 and Olle Mårdsjö 21 Optensys Energianalys, Örng 8c, SE-582 39 Linköping, Sweden, phone +46 70 536 59 22,e-mail dag.henning@optensys.se, www.optensys.se2 Manergy, P.O. Box 271, SE-581 02 Linköping, www.manergy.seABSTRACTDistrict heating (DH) offers low primary energydemand, high security of supply and small CO 2emissions. Barriers to DH in the UK, Ireland, France,Romania and the Czech Republic have been compiledthrough publications and interviews.DH systems require large investments, have negativeinitial cash flow and long payback time, which obstructsfinancing. One actor should control DH from source toconsumption. If the value chain is fragmented,contracts are required between the links. It increasesrisks and financing costs, like in the UK and Ireland,where DH is not established. There are few multi-familyhouses with central heating and it is expensive to buildDH networks in built areas.Most French DH systems are operated according tolong-term concessions by companies that sell electricityand gas. No strong actor provides unbiased DHsupport. In the Czech Republic, gas offers DH severecompetition. Much DH is produced at the expense ofelectricity that is considered more valuable, and wasteincineration is not popular. In Romania, DHconsumption was reduced by one-half. Distributionlosses are enormous. New less polluting plants areneeded.Consortia from established DH countries could offer DHsystems from fuel to customer if local policies facilitateDH development.are difficult to use for individual buildings, such asunrefined biomass fuels, heat from waste incinerationand industrial surplus heat. The latter may, forexample, be a by-product from production ofautomotive biofuel. District heating can provide cheapenergy to consumers by using low-cost energysources, such as wood, waste and surplus heat. Manyof these resources can be of local origin and promotelocal business and industry.The main advantages with district heating are highsecurity of supply through utilisation of domesticrenewable energy resources, if available, low primaryenergy demand due to high conversion efficiency, aswell as small CO 2 emissions thanks to low fossil fueluse and the high energy efficiency. Incineration ofwaste with heat recovery to district heating may beused at very low cost. District heating also givesopportunity for cogeneration of power and heat withvery high efficiency. District heating enables profitableheat supply with outstanding environmentalperformance but there are in many places variousbarriers to a prosperous DH development.Barriers to district heating in the United Kingdom (UK),Ireland, France, Romania and the Czech Republic, aswell as barriers to export of Swedish district heatingknowledge and products to these countries have beencompiled from publications and through personalcommunication with people in public and private energybodies and companies in Sweden and abroad [1].INTRODUCTIONThis paper describes barriers to district heating (DH) invarious parts of Europe and to Swedish involvement indistrict-heating business abroad. The paper is basedon a report called ―District Heating in Europe: Barriersto overcome for Swedish export‖ [1], which wasprepared for The Swedish District Heating Association.The losses by energy conversion in Europe are of thesame magnitude as the European heat demand andconsist mainly of heat that is wasted by electricitygeneration [2]. District heating is a means to utilisesuch surplus heat to cover heat demand.District heating can utilise the heat from electricitygeneration in combined heat and power (CHP) plants.District heating can also use other heat sources that223In the studied countries, there are large potentials fordistrict-heating development and for Swedish sales ofDH related goods and services. But for district heatingand export to succeed, there are several barriers toovercome in Sweden as well as in the other countries.It should be emphasised that this paper focusesbarriers and does not give the full picture of theconditions for district heating, which also includes manypossibilities.BARRIERS IN WELL-DEVELOPED DH COUNTRIESIn many countries with well-developed district-heatingindustry, such as Sweden, much DH competenceresides in municipally owned energy companies. Theyhave system knowledge, which could be applicable inother countries. District-heating companies owned by