Community-owned district heating and cooling
Overview of the status and impact of the innovation
What
DHC networks can be owned by communities in addition to the usual utility ownership model.
Why
Creating new community-owned or hybrid private-public DHC networks can accelerate the scale-up of district energy systems because these models allow all stakeholders to be more involved in building and managing DHC infrastructure. These new business models can make heating or cooling more affordable, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, speed up project development and provide more transparent connection costs and energy tariffs.
BOX 6.20 Community-owned district heating utility in Denmark
The district heating utility Jaegerspris Kraftvarme in Denmark is 100% owned by consumers and organised as a private co-operative. As the only shareholders, consumers are involved in all major investment and strategic decisions. The investment costs are financed with long-term debt, with a municipal guarantee, and are recovered through heat sales. All profits are passed to consumers in the form of lower tariffs, following the not-for-profit principle in Denmark’s Heat Supply Act, and tariffs are increased to cover deficits if any. The goal of this business model is to deliver services to consumers at the lowest price (European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2021).
Related kits
Power to heat and cooling innovations
Innovations (35)
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Technology and infrastructure
- 1 Low-temperature heat pumps
- 2 Hybrid heat pumps
- 3 High-temperature heat pumps
- 4 Waste heat-to-power technologies
- 5 High-temperature electricity-based applications for industry
- 6 Low-temperature thermal energy storage
- 7 Medium- and high-temperature thermal energy storage
- 8 Fourth-generation DHC systems
- 9 Fifth-generation DHC systems
- 10 Internet of Things for smart electrification
- 11 Artificial intelligence for forecasting heating and cooling demands
- 12 Blockchain for enabling transactions
- 13 Digitalisation as a flexibility enabler
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Market design and regulation
- 14 Dynamic tariffs
- 15 Flexible power purchase agreement
- 16 Flexible power purchase agreement
- 17 Standards and certification for improved predictability of heat pump operation
- 18 Energy efficiency programmes for buildings and industry
- 19 Building codes for power-to-heat solutions
- 20 Streamlining permitting procedures for thermal infrastructure
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System planning and operation
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Business models
- 28 Aggregators
- 29 Distributed energy resources for heating and cooling demands
- 30 Heating and cooling as a service
- 31 Waste heat recovery from data centres
- 32 Eco-industrial parks and waste heat recovery from industrial processes
- 33 Circular energy flows in cities – booster heat pumps
- 34 Community-owned district heating and cooling
- 35 Community-owned power-to-heat assets