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New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Heating up: next-generation DHC pilot projects make progress
5/10/2022
6 min read
Feature
The latest generation of district heating and cooling (DHC) schemes in Europe incorporate geothermal and waste heat from various local sources. Energy writer Abi Williams gives insight on the latest pilot projects – both the wins and the challenges.
Although heating and cooling accounts for about half of total energy consumption across the EU, only around a fifth is sourced from renewable energy. Alarmingly, the ratio is dipping even lower in many countries. Such underwhelming performance highlights this energy sector as a candidate for focused efforts to boost the share of heat recovery and renewable energy generation potentially.
Considering that a growing number of governments and other organisations across northern Europe are toying with the idea of phasing out dominant gas infrastructure and turning towards district heating and cooling (DHC) as a possible alternative, there are a number of potential benefits.
These include better energy efficiency, more streamlined building operations and lower costs, storage capacity for thermal energy, and fuel flexibility capable of facilitating the efficient integration of renewable heat sources. Several innovative fifth-generation DHC (5GHDC) pilot projects are being developed across north-eastern Europe under the auspices of the D2Grids programme, and show encouraging early signs of progress.