Support DHC

To achieve the goal of a carbon-neutral Europe by 2050, the district heating sector faces significant challenges over the next three decades. This is especially true for system owners and operators, but also for other stakeholders, such as public authorities. Support DHC aims to facilitate the fast implementation of low-grade renewable energy and waste heat for district heating and cooling (DHC) in Europe.

To reach the goal of a carbon-neutral Europe, the project will support district heating operators in developing plans for change, known as transformation plans. The aim is to meet the requirements for efficient district heating systems, as described in the review of the Energy Efficiency Directive. This also involves creating concrete investment plans for the fast implementation of low-grade renewable energy (RE) and waste heat (WH) recovery measures.

Support DHC demonstrates this in six European countries (Austria, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine) by collaborating with district heating operators to illustrate how to create and invest in district heating and cooling systems in various situations.

The project aims to enhance the knowledge and preparedness of district heating operators to independently manage and control such processes. It also seeks to increase the capacity of specific service providers and other stakeholders to support transformation and investment planning in a similar manner. At policy and regulatory level, local and regional authorities will become enablers of transformation measures as the project addresses solutions for removing barriers and framework shortcomings.

Furthermore, the project will identify and report market-related obstacles and solutions, both at the national and EU levels, which will serve as a basis for policy decisions. Knowledge and insights from the Support DHC project will be shared with other stakeholders in the EU heating market, and the project will actively promote the dissemination of its results.

Om projektet

Projektperiod

2023-10-01–2026-09-30

Projektledare

Urban Persson, professor

From Halmstad University, researchers from the District Heating and Cooling Research Group at the School of Business, Innovation, and Sustainability (FIH) are participating. The University’s role is to contribute expertise to the project.

Samverkanspartner

AEE INTEC – Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien, Austria
AGFW – Projektgesellschaft für Rationalisierung, Information und Standardisierung MBH, Germany
E-THINK - Zentrum für Energiewirtschaft und Umwelt, Austria
EHP – Euroheat & Power, Belgium
HH – Halmstad University, Sweden
LSTA – Lietuvos silumos tiekėjų asociacija (Lithuanian District Heating Association), Lithuania
LVIV – City Institute Lviv (Municipal Institution), Ukraine
PLANENERGI – Planenergi Fond, Denmark
PNEC – Stowarzyszenie Gmin Polska Siec Energie Cités, Poland
POLIMI – Politecnico di Milano, Italy
WIP – Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur GmbH & Co Planungs KG, Germany (project coordinator)