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, EstoniaGas prices make it difficult for gas-based districtheating to compete with individual gas heating [7].There are some disconnections from DH systems.use. Many district heating users switched to gas due tolow gas prices and heavy, government-regulated DHprice increases [7], whereas households and districtheating plants had the same gas price.MiscellaneousNaturalgasHardcoalCoalNaturalgasLigniteOilFig. 4. District heating production in the Czech Republic[10]Domestic coal dominates Czech district heatingproduction (Fig. 4). Most of the district heating isproduced in CHP plants. The problem concerning CHP(Table I) is that a large share of Czech district heatingcomes from coal-fired power plants with extractionturbines where the heat is produced at the expense ofelectricity [7], which is considered more valuable. Thebenefit of this CHP production is not allocated to theheat [8]. Some biomass is used to produce districtheating, but biomass use is complicated due todeficient fuel supply systems [7] and governmentscepticism toward renewable energy. There is alsomuch resistance to waste incineration from the publicas well as from politicians.Financing may be a rather large barrier, partly due to acertain district heating disconnection tendency. Themany private foreign district-heating companies in theCzech Republic [7] may be a difficult target for Swedishand other district heating companies from abroad thatare not established in the country. There may also besome reluctance toward foreign enterprises. A certainbarrier is the common corruption by public procurement(Table I). The value chain is sometimes fragmentedinto production and distribution run by different actors.ROMANIAIn Romania, biomass covers the largest fraction ofresidential heat demand among the countries understudy (Fig. 2). Individual boilers and stoves for woodand gas cover more than one-half of the heat use inhouseholds. Gas is the most widely used heatingsource for residences and it is expanding at theexpense of district heating [7].Table I shows that district heating has large problemswith competitiveness and customer relations. Today,the DH consumption is just one-half of the previous227Fig. 5. District heating production in Romania in 2005 [7]Fig. 5 shows that Romanian district heating productionis completely based on fossil fuels. One-half of the heatis produced in, normally coal-fired, CHP plants. Largeinvestments are required in the Romanian districtheating systems. CHP plants and heat-only boilersmust be replaced for environmental reasons.Distribution losses are enormous [7].Organisation is a rather large obstacle for districtheating in Romania (Table I). The municipalities arenow mostly in charge of the district heating systems [7]but much lobbying is required to achieve improvementsand it takes time to reach an investment decision.Corruption is common. Some politicians andemployees try to make their own profit on DH business.Financing difficulties largely concern insecurity whethercustomers will remain because many havedisconnected from district heating. National and localcontrol is a certain barrier because DH companiespartly get heat production costs covered by centralGovernment and City Councils [7]. Besides thementioned problems, the entrance barrier for foreigncompanies should be rather low. Waste collection andsorting are now deficient but, on the other hand, newpossibilities should emerge when Romania wants tointroduce waste incineration, and waste is thereforeconsidered to be a medium-size barrier in Table I.HOW TO OVERCOME BARRIERSThis paper focuses barriers and omits more positivecircumstances for district heating. It may be depressingbut the message is not that district heating has noprospects. The report should rather be understood as arealistic guide to DH development in the studiedcountries.To have a chance to overcome the outlined barriers toany significant extent, powerful initiatives are requiredfrom countries with established district-heating