The aim of the project is to support owners and operators of the district heating and cooling (DHC) sector and all related stakeholders, such as local authorities, in the energy transition, and thus work towards the common goal of a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050.
The main challenges facing the DHC sector are:
- carrying out the necessary investments in DHC infrastructure and the associated huge implementation efforts,
- the upcoming definition for energy efficient DHC in Article 24 of the EED revision will define a clear roadmap until 2050 and thus requires a holistic transformation planning of DHC operators for decarbonizing their DHC systems in line with the EED,
- technologies such as low-grade renewable energies (RE) and waste heat (WH) are new to many operators and create the need of technical support to many subprocesses of DHC transformation and investment planning.
Thus, the overall objective of the SUPPORT DHC project is to address these challenges by supporting a fast implementation of low-grade renewable energy and waste heat for DHC in Europe.
The overall objective is achieved by facilitating and concretely supporting DHC operators in drawing-up of transformation plans and in particular concrete investment plans for a fast implementation of low-grade RE and WH for DHC in six European countries (AT, DE, IT, LT, PL, UA). The SUPPORT DHC project, in cooperation with involved DHC operators, demonstrates such processes and lead to investments on the ground for a variety of EU-wide DHC system cases.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES:
- Supporting DHC operators in developing transformation plans, particularly investment plans,
- implementing improved and faster transformation processes for DHC systems,
- enhancing the capacity of DHC operators to manage and lead the transformation process,
- enhancing the skills and qualifications of service providers and other stakeholders to support transformation and new investment planning,
- identifying potential market and framework barriers and developing and implementing solutions to address them,
- implementing specific support to DHC operators in developing their investment plans: from supporting dedicated 'DHC frontrunner' cases, to supporting 'DHC follower' cases, to replicating results beyond SUPPORT DHC target countries.
EXPECTED PROJECT RESULTS:
The planned outcomes of the project will be to support a sustainable approach to the use of renewable energy and waste heat which will allow:
- demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of such investments,
- ensure primary energy savings,
- reduction of CO2 emissions,
- mitigation of climate change,
- reduce dependence on fossil fuels,
- creating new jobs,
- alleviating energy poverty,
- improving the health conditions of residents,
- reducing dependence on natural gas for DHC systems in Europe,
- ensuring final energy savings,
- increasing the capacity of DHC owners and operators and other stakeholders to make the investments necessary to integrate low-temperature RES or waste heat into high-temperature DHC systems,
- supporting the DHC sector in Ukraine,
- disseminating project activities and results.
PROJECT PARTNERS:
- Wirtschaft und Infarstruktur GmbH & Co Planungs KG (WIP), DE - coordinator
- AGFW-Projektgesellschaft für Rationalisierung, Information und Standardisierung mbH (AGFW), DE
- AEE - Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien (AEE INTEC), AT
- Zentrum für Energiewirtschaft und Umwelt (E-THINK), AT
- Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), IT
- Euroheat & Power (EHP), BE
- PlanEnergi Fond, DK
- Högskolan i Halmstad (HALMSTAD), SE
- Lithuanian District Heating Association (LDHA), LT
- Municipal Institution City Institute - City Institute (IRMiR), UA
- Stowarzyszenie Gmin Polska Sieć "Energie Cités" (PNEC), PL
DURATION: 1 October 2023 – 30 September 2026
FINANCING: LIFE+
SUPPORT DHC is co-funded by the European Union under the LIFE+ Programme within the grant agreement No 101119914. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
