Transformation of existing urban district heating and cooling systems from fossil to renewable energy sources

Project Information

RES-DHC

Grant agreement ID: 952873

DOI

10.3030/952873

Project closed

EC signature date 10 July 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 2 582 946,25

EU contribution

€ 2 582 946,25

Coordinated by

STEINBEIS INNOVATION GGMBH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RES-DHC (Transformation of existing urban district heating and cooling systems from fossil to renewable energy sources)

Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

RES-DHC stands for a wider introduction of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the District Heating and Cooling (DHC) sector. The market uptake challenges for RES DHC are manifold and addressed in their full width in this project. Key topics to be mentioned are improvements to the polical and regulatory framework, introduction of planning and assessment processes, holistic transformation strategies for DHC to more RES, public acceptance and participation, technological solutions and financing. The specific actions meet the market uptake challenges of RES-DHC that are:
− Introduction of RES at a large scale
− Engagement of relevant stakeholders
− Assessment and improvement of legal, institutional and political frameworks
− Assessment and improvement of the environmental, economic and social impact of possible strategies for mor RES in DHC
− Development of successful approaches and their documentation to enable copyists.

The main objective of the RES-DHC project is to support the transformation of existing urban DHC systems to RES in six participating regions and thereby to derive - from these practical cases - technical and organizational solutions for such transformation processes.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In six European target regions a focussed analyses of the current situation of RES for DHC was done and different market supporting measures were developed and carried out. For supporting this, in every region a regional advisory stakeholder group (RSAG) was implemented and integrated in the entire project work for the specific regions. Altogether 38 measures for supporting the market for more RES in DHC were carried out in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Switzerland.
In addition, a broad amount of capacity building activities for more RES in DHC were organized and carried out comprising workshops, webinars etc.
15 existing tools for the implementation or optimisation of RES in DHC are gathered in the RES DHC toolbox, tnat is available on the website.
For all measures factsheets were created to document the measures. This can be used for further replication of the project outcomes by other regions, investors, stakeholders etc.

The social media accounts and the project website were used to promote and disseminate the project progress and activities and to address stakeholders. Specific social media campaigns, e.g. on the toolbox or the baseline surveys were specifically addressed and widely disseminated thanks to their high reach.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project RES-DHC is a market support action, thus the progress lies in the market situation. The project shows more results than expected with the following key performance indicators:
- seven RES DHC policy and regualtory framework instruments could be endorsed in four of the six regions.
- seven planning processes for more RES in DHC were endorsed by new stakeholders, at least one in every of the six regions.
- seven innovative RES DHC market support measures could be implemented including new supporting laws and better economic market conditions for more RES in DHC.
- 23 strategies could be developed for transforming DH systems to more RES in the six target regions.
- 14 new RES for DHC initiatives could be launched.
- 12 new regions outside of the six model regions could be activated for more RES in DHC.

Altogether the RES-DHC project stimulated a total investment of 276,7 Mio Euro in more RES in DHC to produce 790 GWh/a renewable heat.
About 17.000 stakeholders for more RES in DHC could be reached by the RES DHC project.

SDH in Chemnitz (Picture: inetz GmbH Chemnitz)

Logo of the H2020 RES-DHC project

Biomass heating plant (Picture: Andrei Merkulov, Adobe Stock)