Partnership of a strategy for district heating research, development and demonstration (RDD)

In the recent years many studies of how Denmark can be fossil free by 2050 it is agreed that district heating will play a crucial role. District heating is an important factor of phasing out fossil fuels in an energy-and cost-effective way.
But the future energy supply without fossil fuels poses new requirements for district heating. In the future, district heating shall provide energy for low-energy houses, have low distribution losses and use a variety of heat sources such as geothermal, solar, waste, surplus heat, CHP and various biomass conversion processes. In addition, it must all be done in an energy efficient way and in an active interaction with production of electricity and electricity con-sumption and, through integration of electricity from wind, solar and wave power. Low temperature, use of heat pumps and the interaction with electricity and biomass will be keywords.
It is not only in Denmark we will need an active development of future technologies and systems. Large parts of Europe and many other parts of the world need the same development, and today Denmark has a significant export in the market - an export that has risen sharply, despite the recent economic recession.
There is thus a double need to actively promote the development of future district heating technologies. We will partly need the technology development to realize the goal of a fossil free society and secondly because it is neces-sary to maintain and expand the export.
This report contains a number of proposals for concrete actions – a roadmap for the development of district heat-ing. The project is anchored at the District Energy Development Center that will work for an implementation of the concrete project ideas after the project completion.
There is a need to increase the activity level for development of district heating. There is therefore a need to ensure financing of this development. We suggest that this can be done by creating an opportunity for a more sustained funding, for example an energy PSO - so all energy consumers contributes to the future smart grid; a smart grid where district heating and electricity is far more integrated than it is today.