This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°857801
AUTHORS: R2M SOLUTION DATE: 30.09.2020
D8.1
Market & PESTLE Analysis
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Guidelines and tips
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
D8.1 Market & PESTLE Analysis. 2. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research.
Typology: Lecture notes
2021/2022
1 / 73
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
Related documents
Partial preview of the text
Download Market & PESTLE Analysis and more Lecture notes Marketing in PDF only on Docsity!
Market & PESTLE Analysis
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
Technical References
(^1) PU = Public PP = Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services) RE = Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services) CO = Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)
Document history
V Date Author/Editor Comments V0.1 31/01/ 2020 Carola Bosio (R2M) Table of contents, distribution of tasks to partners. V0.2 04/03/2020 Carola Bosio (R2M) with inputs from all partners. Partial integration of individual sections provided by all WEDISTRICT partners. V0.3 31/08/20 Sophie Dourlens (R2M) First review of the content, consolidation of the full report. Project Acronym WEDISTRICT Project Title Smart and local reneWable Energy DISTRICT heating and cooling solutions for sustainable living Project Coordinator ACCIONA Project Duration October - 19 / March – 23 (42 months) Deliverable No. D 8. Dissemination level 1 PU Work Package WP^8 Task Task 8. Lead beneficiary R2M Contributing beneficiary(ies) All Due date of deliverable 30 September 2020 (M 12 ) Actual submission date 30 September 2020 (M12)
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
Executive Summary
WEDISTRICT aims to demonstrate that District Heating and Cooling (DHC) systems can be built on a combination of renewable energy sources (RES) and waste heat recovery solutions. To achieve this, WEDISTRICT sets up four demonstration sites across Europe to showcase our success stories. Four real-scale projects are carried out in different climate zones across Europe, where there are distinctive district heating and cooling systems and construction traditions. Each demonstration site integrates two or more renewable energy technologies and draws on local resources and innovative technologies. WEDISTRICT scope and implementation actively contributes to the European mission of decarbonization of the heating and cooling sector which accounts for approximately 50% of the final energy demand in the EU and is mainly reliant on fossil fuels [ 1 ]. The main renewable energy sources that can be integrated in DHC systems are biomass, solar thermal and geothermal and a considerable role is also represented by the use of waste heat from industry and services. The integration of this kind of heating and cooling generation units is one of the main pillars of the current evolution of DHC systems together with a more efficient functioning of the system at low temperature (both at buildings and supply network levels) and a high interoperability/integration with the energy system as a whole (management of flexible and fluctuating production). In addition to the technological aspects, the DHC systems need to be defined also from an organizational point of view as they depend on a complex network of stakeholders directly involved from a technical and legal point of view, but also from a societal perspective. The majority of business models involves public and private players having an extended range of roles and interests. A strong effort in stakeholders’ coordination and engagement is crucial during all the phases of development and implementation of the DHC projects. The analysis of the market identifies the barriers preventing the DHC uptake that include, as major aspects, the need in a long-term planning approach from authorities able to bear the related construction, operational risks and longer payback time and the capabilities to influence negative perception-behavioural approach by communities. The existing barriers need to be addressed by specific national strategies for energy transition and regulations introducing ad-hoc fiscal policy and facilitating all the administrative steps to be taken during the project development. DHC should be seen as a way to better exploit local RES and support the power grid management. Starting from the countries involved in WEDISTRICT demonstrations, a general overview of the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental conditions impacting the deployment of DHC projects is provided. The overview on four specific European countries helps in the understanding of the current European general framework represented by countries with high amounts of district network (such as Sweden), countries with inefficient district heat infrastructures and building stock (such as Poland and Romania) and countries with no/few DHC networks (such as Spain). This document is aligned with WEDISTRICT document D2.3 District Heating and Cooling Stock at EU level , where it is established the current situation for DHC in Europe, the trends identification and reasonable evolution of DHCs in Europe and, finally, the identification of inefficiencies, barriers, and improvement potentials ‘lessons learned’.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
Abbreviations
Abbreviation Description 4GDHC 4th generation of District Heating and Cooling 5GDHC 5th generation of District Heating and Cooling ADHAC Asociacion de Empresas de Redes de Calor y Frio BAT Best Available Technology CAPEX Capital Expenditure CHP Combined Heat and Power CS Concentrated Solar CSP Concentrated Solar Power DC District Cooling DH District Heating DHC District Heating and Cooling EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EHP Euroheat & Power EIB European Investment Bank EPC Energy Performance Contract ETC Evacuated Tubular Collectors EU European Union FPC Flat Plate Collectors GHG Greenhouse Gases GDH Geothermal District Heating GDP Gross Domestic Product H&C Heating & Cooling HVAC Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning INECP Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan IRR Internal Rate of Return LCOE Levelized Cost of Energy LCP Large Combustion Plants LPWA Low Power Wide Area LTRS Long Term Renovation Strategy MFF Multiannual Financial Framework N/A Not Applicable NCBiR National Centre for Research and Development (Poland) NGEU Next Generation EU nZEB Nearly Zero Energy Building PBT Pay Back Time PESTLE Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental PTC Parabolic Trough Collector PV Photovoltaic RES-E RES-Electricity RES-H RES-Heating RoES Romanian Energy Strategy ROI Return on Investment O&M Operation and Maintenance OPEX Operational Expenditure RES Renewable Energy sources TBD To be defined TCO Total cost of ownership TTO Technology Transfer Office WHR Waste Heat Recovery
Table of figures
- This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon
- research and innovation programme under grant agreement N°
- AUTHORS: R2M SOLUTION DATE: 30.09. - D8.
- ABBREVIATIONS Table of Contents
- TABLE OF FIGURES
- TABLE OF TABLES
- 1 INTRODUCTION
- & CONTEXT 2 DHC SYSTEMS BASED ON 100% RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES – DEFINITION
- 2.1 100% RES DHC – DEFINITIONS
- 2.1.1 What a DHC is, in few words
- 2.1.2 Aiming at achieving 100% RES
- 2.1.3 State of art of most common RES used in DHC
- 2.1.4 From 1st to 4th generation DHC
- 2.1.5 The 5th generation DHC concept
- 2.2 MAP OF THE INVOLVED STAKEHOLDERS
- 2.2.1 Generic mapping of stakeholders involved in DHC systems
- 2.2.2 Involvement of public and private players
- 2.2.3 Stakeholder engagement as key factor for DHC projects
- 2.3 EU FRAMEWORK FOR DHC
- 2.3.1 Heating and cooling in the EU
- 2.3.2 District heating
- 2.3.3 District cooling
- 3 100% RES DHC – THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY
- 3.1 DRIVERS TO THE MARKET UPTAKE OF RES DHC
- 3.1.1 Policy drivers at EU level
- 3.1.2 Stakeholders to be involved for market uptake at national / local level
- 3.1.3 Command-and-control instruments
- 3.1.4 Incentive regulation instruments
- 3.1.5 Technological drivers
- 3.1.6 Knowledge instruments
- 3.1.7 Market drivers
- 3.2 BARRIERS TO THE MARKET UPTAKE OF RES DHC
- 3.2.1 Introduction
- 3.2.2 Supply side
- 3.2.3 Demand side
- 4 PESTLE ANALYSIS AT COUNTRY LEVEL
- 4.1 INTRODUCTION
- 4.2 POLAND
- 4.2.1 Summary of the factors and their impact
- 4.2.2 Description of the factors
- 4.3 SPAIN This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
- 4.3.1 Summary of the factors and their impact
- 4.3.2 Description of the factors
- 4.4 ROMANIA
- 4.4.1 Summary of the factors and their impact
- 4.4.2 Description of the factors
- 4.5 SWEDEN
- 4.5.1 Summary of the factors and their impact
- 4.5.2 Description of the factors
- 5 CONCLUSIONS
- 6 REFERENCES
- previous three generations [13] Figure 1. Illustration of the concept of 4th Generation District Heating in comparison to
- Figure 2. Scheme of a 5GDHC network concept [15]
- Figure 3. Stakeholders involved in DHC projects [18]
- sectors for 2015 [1].............................................................................................................. Figure 4. Share of energy carrier by country for the final heating and cooling demand for all
- Figure 5. Sources for DH supply in the EU in district heating production from 2017 [6]........
- Figure 6. Average CO 2 emissions for DH production in selected European countries [6]
- Figure 7. Estimated investments in district heating for decarbonised energy system by
- Figure 8. Actors and levels in the field of energy efficiency.
- national and local regulatory framework [20] Figure 9. Assessing options in expansion cities to develop district energy based on the
- Figure 10. Private Debt in 2018 [42]
- net efficiencies taking into account results of life-cycle analysis [51].................................... Figure 11. Overview of the relative efficiency of different types of bioenergy. Data represent
- 2012 [45] Figure 12. Population-weighted concentration field of annual mean Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) in
- Figure 13. Spanish GDP under the different forecasting scenarios [57]
- Figure 14. Spanish population is getting older each year.
- Figure 15. District Heating and Cooling networks in Spain
- Figure 16. District Heating and Cooling networks by Autonomous Community
- Figure 17. Overview of Romania's objectives, targets and contributions 2019.
- Figure 18. Romania household reported performance indicators 2017.
- Figure 19. Manufacturing Production in Romania, 2019 continuing with 2020.
- Table 1. Macro groups of DHC stakeholders Table of tables
- Table 2. Main roles of DHC stakeholders
- the EU countries [24] Table 3: Comparison of the average, maximum and minimum potential cooling demand for
- Table 4. Stakeholders in energy efficiency market [27] This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
- Table 5.Categorisation of barriers for renewable heating and cooling [31]
- Table 6 Main factors from the PESTLE analysis for Poland
- Table 7. Cities with highest average pollution in μm/m^3 in European Union in
- Table 8 Summary of main factors from the PESTLE analysis for Spain
- Table 9. Main contents of each Title of the Draft Law.
- Table 10 Summary of the main factors from the PESTLE analysis for Romania
- renewable sources and energy performance of buildings. Table 11. Romania current framework on Energy efficiency, eco-design, energy from
- Table 12 Summary of the main factors of the PESTLE analysis for Sweden
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
2 DHC systems based on 100% renewable energy
sources – Definition & Context
2.1 100% RES DHC – Definitions
2.1.1 What a DHC is, in few words
District Heating and Cooling (DHC) is commonly described as the system where heat and cold are produced centrally (from one or more energy sources) and are transported through a network to the final users. An insulated pipe network connects local resources to local needs. New generation of DHC are becoming more and more technically and economically efficient in comparison with other network and far from individual based solutions. Its main contribution is to reduce primary energy consumption and local emissions in the community served. By aggregating a large number of small and variable heating and cooling demands, DHC allows energy flows and works as thermal energy storage.
2.1.2 Aiming at achieving 100% RES
Next step in DHC environment is to achieve 100% decarbonized DHC by the exclusive use of renewables (biomass, solar thermal and geothermal energy), excess and ambient heat and fossil-free generation [ 1 ]. Dependence of fossil fuels is put aside and leaves the way clean for a more sustainable energy supply. Additionally, the system does not depend on a single source of supply thanks to the integration of diverse energy sources. In 2018, renewable energy accounted for 21.1 % of total energy use for heating and cooling in the EU. This is a significant increase from 11.7 % in 2004. Increases in industrial sectors, services and households (building sector) contributed to this growth. Aerothermal, geothermal and hydrothermal heat energy captured by heat pumps is taken into account, to the extent reported by countries. [ 2 ] The European DHC industry is committed to fully decarbonising our networks before 2050. But what does 100% RES DHC means? It is not only the use of renewable energies, but also the optimal combination of different sources taking into account their different working temperature, flow, seasonal fluctuations, efficiencies, etc. A 100% renewable energy district makes optimal use of locally available renewable energy sources and waste heat, enables the use of locally produced renewable energy by offering optimal flexibility, in managing consumption and providing storage capacities to the regional energy system on demand. Cost-effective and reliable DHC solutions are a closer reality. In particular, a wide range of renewable sources can serve as alternative to fossil-based heat [ 3 ]. Shallow geothermal sources are omnipresent in Europe and they can potentially cover a quarter of total heating demand in Europe, with deeper geothermal having the potential of covering another quarter of the demand. Albeit there is some risk associated with deep geothermal solutions. Solar thermal has about the same potential as shallow and deep geothermal combined [ 4 ]. At the same time, enhancing building thermal insulation reduces both the total heat demand and the required temperature for heating buildings, while generating a substantial cooling demand. As large-scale systems benefit from economies of scale, it is advantageous to design large scale systems that are flexible enough to account for differences between buildings in space and time and to accommodate a wide variety of renewable heat sources. District heating and cooling is a proposed resilient urban energy
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research infrastructure design that can supply heat and cold at required temperatures to consumers, reducing total energy demand by facilitating direct heat exchange and using renewable sources to cover residual demand.
2.1.3 State of art of most common RES used in DHC
There are different renewable sources options for being integrated in DHCs: CHP, Waste, biomass, Solar, geothermal, industrial excess, among others. WEDISTRICT projects offers information about them through the public deliverable D2.3 District Heating and Cooling Stock at EU level (October 2020). According to the latest report presented by Euroheat in 2 019 [ 6 ], currently, the most common three renewable sources in district heating and cooling systems to date are biomass, geothermal and solar. 2.1.3.1 Biomass Biomass is the most widely used renewable energy for heating today, representing in 2012 some 90% of all renewable heating [ 5 ]. Only biomass is currently used as an original energy source in many European DH systems. Fuel sources are mainly forestry and agricultural waste. Sustainable biomass use for heating/cooling production can result in a number of energy, economic, employment and environmental benefits. Biomass can be stored at times of low demand and provide dispatchable energy when needed. Depending on the type of conversion plant, biomass can thus play a role in balancing the rising share of variable renewable heat from solar in the heating system. The main concern with biomass though is that, despite being a relatively clean alternative to more harmful fossil fuels, biomass still generates harmful pollutants that can be released into the atmosphere as it is combusted. One of the main challenges is how to reduce NOx emissions from biomass burning. The European Commission, in their endeavour to ensure healthy air quality conditions for citizens, published Directive (EU) 2015/2193 setting emissions limits for combustion plants. From that, the objective would be to bring biomass emission figures closer to natural gas outcomes, being necessary to reduce by nearly 4 times the NOx concentration coming from biomass. The most usual way to reduce NOx emissions is to inject ammonia (NH 4 ) into the furnace. Nevertheless, the chemical reaction yields very low efficiency as 50% in very good conditions of temperature and mixing. Furthermore, ammonia injection increases solid particles into flue gas stream. This increasing can wear out and harm boiler heating surfaces and bag filters. Another usual technology is to reduce NOx by using catalyst. This is a very expensive technology which can only be used on big boiler units. Over the last years, new technologies have been developed to reduce NOx emissions from biomass and other energy sources. Above all, these technologies are based on new bag filters with embedded catalyst. This combination can deplete NOx emissions to near zero. The big issue is the investment cost to implement this solution in small and medium size biomass facilities.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research On the other side, solar resource can be also utilized for solar PV installations which could be integrated with electrical consumers in the DHC equipment in order to reduce electricity consumption, as WEDISTRICT project proposes in Poland and Romania.
2.1.4 From 1
st
to 4
th
generation DHC
The DHC market is in constant evolution and from what one can name 1st^ generation of DH, which was firstly installed in 1880 using steam conducted by concrete ducts as heat carrier, until the development of the 4 th^ generation, the technology and society demands have seen great changes that have their reflect in the DHC reality. Looking only at the technology part, the direction of development for the first three generations was to obtain lower distribution temperature, material-lean components and prefabrication. Figure 1. Illustration of the concept of 4th^ Generation District Heating in comparison to previous three generations [ 13 ] According to Lund et al. (2014), future generations of district heating systems should be based on renewable energy and facilitate substantial reductions in heat demand [ 13 ]. They defined
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research some properties that fourth generation district heating systems should have in order to fulfil its role in sustainable energy systems, which are:
1. The ability to supply low temperature heat to both existing, renovated and new **buildings;
- Having low grid losses;
- The ability to recycle heat and integrate renewable sources;
- The ability to be an integrated part of a renewable multi-energy system (MES),** **including cooling;
- Having a sound business model, also in the transition to renewable energy** sources. The current 4th^ generation of district heating and cooling (4GDHC) is pushing hard to become the more widespread DHC, reaching high efficiencies by operating at low temperatures. Operation at low temperatures is both in distribution and in generation, which allows less heat loss through pipes and the use of local heat sources. At the end, this leads to CO 2 emissions savings and the development of greener local economy. In addition, the 4GDHC is based on modern measuring equipment and advanced information technology, which make the system more reliable, intelligent, and competitive. In the heat distribution, it reduces the network heat loss, improves quality match between heat supply and heat demand, and reduces thermal stress and risk of scalding. In the heat generation, lower network supply and return temperature helps improve the power to heat ratio of combined heat and power (CHP) plants and recover waste heat through flue gas condensation, achieves higher coefficient of performance values (efficiencies) for heat pumps, and enlarges the use of low-temperature waste heat and renewable energy.
2.1.5 The 5 th^ generation DHC concept
In the current DHC market, the concept of 5th^ generation DHC (5GDHC) is now often mentioned and is frequently the subject of scientific publication. However, its definition and characterisation are still under discussion. The so called 5GDHC is still a recent and unexplored field, the know-how about this new utility distributing ambient temperature water is in the hands of few companies. No technical standards or guidelines are available for designers and there is a lack of knowledge for 5GDHC operational optimization and control [ 14 ]. The companies driving this new utility infrastructure highlights that the added value that this 5GDHC provides with respect to 4GDHC mainly lies in the distribution of a hot water temperature close to the one og the soil and thereby is. “neutral” from thermal losses point of view, has the capability to work in heating or cooling mode independently of network temperature, and bi-directional and decentralised energy flows. 5GDHC offers a way to incorporate low temperature renewable heat sources including shallow geothermal energy, as well as reduce total demand by recuperating the heat generated from cooling and the cold generated from heating. 5GDHC does not have return flows as such, but warm and cold pipes [ 16 ]. Ideally, heat and cold demand should be of similar size to achieve an almost circular system, but still a seasonal storage is required. In principle, bi-directional decentralised DHC grids allow that each consumer can operate as a producer, so have the potential of turning each connection into a “prosumer”.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research A valuable mapping process for district heating stakeholders is explained within the HNDU DPD guidance^1. On the basis of this document of reference, anyone who has a direct or indirect interest in or could be affected by the project is included in one of the 4 groups of stakeholders are represented in Figure 3 and Table 1. Figure 3. Stakeholders involved in DHC projects [ 18 ] Table 1. Macro groups of DHC stakeholders Investors Consents They provide the funds necessary to do the capital expenditure of the project with or without underwriting funds from financial institutions. They look for the appropriate rate of return able to cover the project development risks and/or corresponding to their profit appetite. They compare the financial attractiveness of this project vs. other kind of investments that could be of very different nature. This category could include: banks, financial institutions, local or national authorities, private companies incl. ESCOs. These stakeholders provide the necessary permits and licenses to allow the project to proceed. This group has a mandate to undertake a particular function, which includes specific requirements and timescales. This category can include urban planning offices, environmental departments, all those government authorities linked to potential constraints in or around the area of the project; but also finance departments of the involved organizations having their internal approval procedures. Customers Others They are the final beneficiaries provided with heat and cooling. They look for This group includes all other interested parties actively participating to the implementation of (^1) Heat Networks Delivery Unit Detailed Project Development guidance.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research favourable savings in their bills, improvements in their energy supply and comfort, quality of air in their area. They could be private individuals, commercial, residential or industrial buildings, housing departments. the projects (delivery partners) such as the operation and installation companies, DHC operators, heat and electricity distributors and sellers. It also includes other potential heat suppliers that could be interested in connecting to the DHC network. The stakeholders included in the above categories can play different and multiple roles in the delivery of DHC projects. Besides, the types of roles that particular stakeholders occupy can vary drastically from project to project. The complexity of the stakeholders’ map characterizing DHC projects is also confirmed by the spectrum of possible roles presented by the Heat Network Detailed Project Development Resource: Guidance on Strategic and Commercial Case, reflecting the total anatomy of a DHC project. All the following roles are not always
represented in each DHC project, but this spectrum presents the full list of potential roles [ 19 ]:
Table 2. Main roles of DHC stakeholders Promotion
- Local authorities could have this role on their own or in conjunction with others such as developers, community bodies, key anchor customers, etc.
- Publicising the opportunity and communicating the benefits to key stakeholders.
- Attracting developers, investors, operators and customer. Customer
- Domestic and non-domestic buildings, local authorities purchasing heat and cooling delivered by the network. Governance
- This role includes setting objectives, roles and responsibilities, setting overall direction for the elements of the network and overseeing performance.
- This role could be taken for example by the local authority itself or an appointed board or a committee within the corporate structure of an ESCO or also an estate management company. Regulation
- This role is focused on consumer protection and to prevent abuse of the monopoly position of a heat network.
- In each legislation there are the appropriate authorities in charge of this activity which are usually independent from all other operators involved. Funder
- They provide or arrange finance requesting security to mitigate their risk of investment. Asset ownership
- The Asset Owner legally owns the physical assets of the network. Ownership could be split for generation assets, primary network and secondary networks). Ownership of assets may vary over the life of the project. Development of property
- In the context of DHC networks, Developers of Property are the parties responsible for constructing or maintaining the buildings which will receive energy from the network. In some case they deliver the sites to be connected including the secondary, tertiary heat/cooling networks.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research sector desires over the project and by its expected return on investment (ROI), resulting in 3 basic paradigms – wholly public / hybrid public-private / private. The local administration should have a higher involvement if the district energy project contributes to local objectives, such as local climate action plans [ 21 ].
2.2.3 Stakeholder engagement as key factor for DHC projects
Due to the complexity of roles involved and the variety of stakeholders that could directly or indirectly have an impact from DHC projects, stakeholder engagement activities represent a key factor that can influence the success of the initiative, for example, in terms of acceptance by the Community or investors backing the project. In spite of its critical importance, the process of stakeholder engagement is often not approached with the same rigour applied to the technical, financial or legal aspects of heat network development. However, it is something that will inevitably be part of your project, whether or not it is labelled as such or treated as a distinct stream of activity [ 18 ]. The importance of the stakeholders engagement is at the core of many European and International initiatives related to DHC expansion: one of the main example is the European
project CELSIUS [ 22 ], funded under the 7th Framework Programme assembling a network of
72 cities and 68 City Supporters between 2014 and 2017. One of the four sections of the Celsius toolbox, which represents a district energy knowledge resource, is dedicated to Stakeholder Engagement and provide interesting case studies of the involvement of stakeholders for the successful implementation of DHC projects. Having a dedicated city unit or coordination mechanism to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagement actions is an example of best practice in developing and implementing a district energy strategy. Stakeholder acceptance of the vision, target, process and shared responsibility is crucial. It is important to involve stakeholders in setting goals and identifying activities in the energy plan, and to create ownership in the plan’s implementation. An independent body or designated agency can provide representation for stakeholders in developing a district energy vision and build commitment to its implementation. This also provides the space for the city to understand stakeholders’ positions and interests in order to negotiate common goals and activities, and can help build commitment from partners when they see the benefits that they can gain from cooperation [ 20 ]. An interesting practical methodology for stakeholder engagement is provided by Carbon Trust and includes the description of the actions and tools to use from the identification of the stakeholders involved to the engagement phase. Furthermore, the stakeholder participation represents one of the non-technological innovation priorities reported in the report “100% Renewable Energy Districts: 2050 Vision” from DHC+ TP & HWG Districts members [ 23 ], which also stresses the importance of a fact-based and proactive communication, since social media (possibly including fake news) represents a growing challenge for municipal/regional planning processes. A modernized heat and cooling sector, empowers local communities, small businesses and citizens, giving each citizen the possibility to take part in the energy transition as a consumer, worker, investor or even producer as a member of a community that relies on decarbonised heat supply, above all in the current framework of energy transition in cities (i.e. energy communities). Example of practical actions to reach this scope includes: the organization of public consultation procedures and consultation meetings to enhance the public participation
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research in decision-making processes or the identification of enthusiastic community members acting as local/regional “ambassadors” from the beginning.
2.3 EU framework for DHC
2.3.1 Heating and cooling in the EU
The various EU countries have different stocks in DHC systems and experience different trends in the development of new systems. In some countries, the amount of produced heat and cooling is either decreasing, maintained, increasing, or there is close to none. In general, only a few countries have taken advantage of their renewable resource potential for DHC or created policies to promote further uptake. Those with policies promoting renewable-based district heating include Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. Denmark, with ambitious decarbonisation policies already uses high shares of renewables in DHC. Otherwise, renewable DHC still plays a modest role in most countries. Figure 4 shows the share of energy sources (both renewable and fossil) used for heating and cooling in 2015 in the EU. Only ‘District Heating’ supplies heat in a collective manner, as within the other categories heat is individually supplied. ‘Biomass’ covers most often wood pellets, wood chips and firewood. Figure 4. Share of energy carrier by country for the final heating and cooling demand for all sectors for 2015 [ 1 ]
2.3.2 District heating
EU countries use different types of fuels in their DH production. Some countries mainly use fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas, while other countries are increasing their use of RES, heat pumps and biomass, depending on local resources and legislations. Generally, it can be noticed that fossil fuels (mainly natural gas and coal) covers a large share the energy supply for DH in Eastern European countries. Biomass plays a prominent role in Sweden as well as in Austria and Estonia. In Germany, most district heating systems have CHP plants. At EU level, natural gas and coal predominates on average. There is significant potential to upgrade existing systems and create new networks using solid biofuels, solar and