Final Upgrade DH Project Report is available

The overall impact of Upgrade DH is significant. The proposed measures for upgrading lead to a reduction of 16.9% of the primary energy demand and 51.9% reduction of greenhouse gases of the DH systems at the eight demo sites. In absolute numbers, this is a reduction of more than 150,000 t of CO2 equivalent per year. Furthermore, the share of using waste heat increased by 3.3% and the share of renewable energies increased by 21.7%. Several of the upgrading measures are currently being implemented, some measures were even finalised. The Upgrade DH project has managed to raise very significant interest at EU level amongst key members of the DHC industry. Whenever abstracts were submitted to important conferences (e.g. Smart Energy Systems Conference, EUBCE, IEA Symposium), they were accepted and presentations showed a high degree of participation and engagement. The potential for replication has repeatedly been highlighted as a key factor to increase impacts in the medium run and the pragmatic and holistic approach regarded by third parties as a key strength of the project. 

Download the Final Upgrade DH Report 

 

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Press Release - District Heating: an important contributor to support the energy transition in the heating sector

Munich, 29.09.2021: Modern and renewable district heating systems are very important technologies for achieving the European climate mitigation targets, including the aim to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century according to the Paris Agreement. This was the important message of the final Upgrade DH workshop “Towards efficient district heating and cooling in Europe” which took place on Wednesday, 15 September 2021, online. The final event of the Upgrade DH project, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, was a full success: more than 90 participants attended the event, asked questions, and contributed to a fruitful discussion on modern heating solutions.

“The heating sector was for a long time neglected in the political debate, in comparison to the power sector”, stated Dominik Rutz, the coordinator of the Upgrade DH project. It was therefore strongly acknowledged that the spotlight is currently directed on renewable heating and energy, at least at the European level. Radoš Horáček, representative of DG Energy of the European Commission, presented the current European energy efficiency legislation and discussion on the higher uptake of sustainable renewable heating and cooling. For example, the “Fit for 55 Package” of the European Commission proposes a new 55% greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030, whereby measures in the heating sector will play a significant role in achieving this target.

That is exactly why EU projects like Upgrade DH are important. The overall objective of this project, which will be concluded after 41 months of implementation at the end of this month, was to improve the performance of inefficient district heating networks in Europe by supporting selected demonstration cases for upgrading, which can be replicated in Europe. The consortium, consisting of research institutes, DH associations, utilities, consultants, and DH operators, not only came up with a full range of information materials such as handbooks, best practice examples, and guidelines, it intensively worked together with local stakeholders of 8 DH systems in Europe to upgrade these systems. Measures included reduction on the temperature levels, improvement of the pumps and pipelines, integration of renewable energies, or cross-cutting topics such as digitalisation of the system, for example. This was accompanied by a broad image raising campaign to inform European citizens about the various advantages of DH. “Through the campaign, we reached more than 50,000 citizens”, said Aksana Krasatsenka from Euroheat and Power. She was responsible for the implementation of the campaign, as well as for the organisation of the final workshop.

The overall impact of Upgrade DH is significant. The proposed measures for upgrading lead to a reduction of 16.9% of the primary energy demand and 51.9% reduction of greenhouse gases of the DH systems at the eight demo sites. In absolute numbers, this is a reduction of more than 150,000 t of CO2 equivalent per year.  Furthermore, the share of using waste heat increased by 3.3% and the share of renewable energies increased by 21.7%. Several of the upgrading measures are currently being implemented, some measures were even finalised.

To support similar projects, the European Commission has recently published the calls for the new programme called Horizon Europe. Stavros Stamatoukos, project officer of the European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency and responsible for the Upgrade DH project, gave an insight on project opportunities in the field of heating and cooling and encouraged the workshop attendees to participate.

Finally, in the framework of the workshop participants had a chance to virtually visit two CHP plants that recently undertook upgrading measures and can serve as inspiration for other DH systems striving to become more efficient. These examples of knowledge exchange are needed and will lead to a stepwise improvement of the DH sector in Europe and thereby contributing significantly towards the 1.5 °C climate target.

Presentations of the event:
https://www.upgrade-dh.eu/en/publications-reports/the-final-upgrade-dh-conference/
https://www.euroheat.org/events/towards-efficient-district-heating-cooling-europe/
Recording of the event: https://youtu.be/Ag6ZasFMxRE
Project website: https://www.upgrade-dh.eu/

 

• Press Release pdf

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29.09.2021 District Heating: an important contributor to support the energy transition in the heating sector

Munich, 29.09.2021: Modern and renewable district heating systems are very important technologies for achieving the European climate mitigation targets, including the aim to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century according to the Paris Agreement. This was the important message of the final Upgrade DH workshop “Towards efficient district heating and cooling in Europe” which took place on Wednesday, 15 September 2021, online. The final event of the Upgrade DH project, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, was a full success: more than 90 participants attended the event, asked questions, and contributed to a fruitful discussion on modern heating solutions.
“The heating sector was for a long time neglected in the political debate, in comparison to the power sector”, stated Dominik Rutz, the coordinator of the Upgrade DH project. It was therefore strongly acknowledged that the spotlight is currently directed on renewable heating and energy, at least at the European level. Radoš Horáček, representative of DG Energy of the European Commission, presented the current European energy efficiency legislation and discussion on the higher uptake of sustainable renewable heating and cooling. For example, the “Fit for 55 Package” of the European Commission proposes a new 55% greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030, whereby measures in the heating sector will play a significant role in achieving this target.

Download the Press Release

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09.07.2021 Check the brochure "District heating and cooling - a modern solution to traditional challenges"

The information brochure "District heating and cooling - a modern solution for traditional challenges" is part of the Image Raising Campaign “Become a #DHCitizen!” of the European umbrella organization Euroheat&Power and is addressed to citizens of the entire EU.

• Download the brochure (in English)
• Download the brochure (in German)
• Download the brochure (in Polish)
• Download the brochure (in Croatian)
• Download the brochure (in Bosnian)
• Download the brochure (in Italian)
• Download the brochure (in Lithuanian)

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09.07.2021 Join German expert knowlede sharing workshop on 18.08.2021

An important part of a successful heat transition is district heating systems with a growing share of heat generation from renewable energies (RE). How can the savings potential of 39 million tons of CO2 per year identified in studies be achieved and what are possible generation alternatives to get as close as possible to the 73% RE in district heating by 2050? This question is currently being addressed by numerous district heating utilities at various levels. With the event "Transformation of District Heating Generation - Goals and the Reality" we would like to present some generation alternatives, components and concepts. 

• More information about the event
• Agenda
• Registration

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02.07.2021 Join the Final Upgrade DH Conference on 15 September 2021

We invite you to join the final Upgrade DH Conference "Towards efficient district heating and cooling in Europe" on 15 September 2021, online!

CLICK HERE for more information on the Agenda and Registration
 

The Upgrade DH project supports the upgrading and retrofitting process of district heating (DH) systems in different climate regions of Europe, covering various countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and The Netherlands.

This event will be a perfect opportunity to present and discuss project results and achievements: the collection of the best upgrading measures and tools, upgrading processes of concrete DH systems initiated in each of the target countries, replication activities in other European countries and DH systems. Of course, the energy transition road has never been smooth, and we faced some challenges when implementing upgrading measures in our demo cases and supporting the modernisation process in selected district heating networks, when looking for the appropriate financing and business models and trying to improve the public perception of DH networks. Our experiences and recommendations for the development or retrofitting of DHC networks will be presented at the final project conference.

Additionally, in the afternoon, participants will have a chance to (virtually) visit two CHP plants that recently undertook upgrading measures and can serve as  inspiration for other DH systems striving to become more efficient. 

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29.06.2021 Energy transition - Lithuania sets records in speed and scope

Lithuania is a country undergoing an energy transition at record speed, with ambitions now to move beyond biomass. So, while some EU governments are still debating whether they need new pipelines, or can turn off the natural gas tap, Lithuania has been transforming its heat supply: Firstly using domestic biomass to exit the era of energy dependence on Russia; now upgrading its networks and eyeing new possibilities in the form of solar and heat pumps.

Press release

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14.06.2021 Video on solar thermal energy in district heating

The virtual tour and the presentation of the solar thermal energy supply of “Energie und Wasser Potsdam” was a highlight of the AGFW event "Solnet 4.0 - Online Workshop Solar Heat Networks - Market Status Today and Approaches for Sustainable Development Tomorrow (Solare Wärmenetze – Marktstand heute und Ansätze für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung morgen)" on 23.09.2020.

In this video Mr. René Elgert (construction manager of the solar thermal power plant from Energie und Wasser Potsdam GmbH) gives detailed insights into the technical concept, the implementation and then operation of the collector field, the integration into the district heating network and the technical center (heat station).

Solnet 4.0
In the joint research project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), AGFW, Solites, the Hamburg Institute and the publishers of the trade journal “Energiekommune” had set themselves the goal of providing practical information about the technology and user concepts of solar thermal energy, visiting systems and clarifying open questions. Further information can be found at https://www.agfw.de/solarthermie/.

Solar thermal energy in district heating
Heating networks with renewable energies offer promising opportunities to make progress in the local heat transition. Increasingly, large-scale ground-mounted solar thermal systems are being integrated in this process. Today, these systems are implemented by heating suppliers primarily for business reasons and as a measure of local climate protection. The current double-digit growth is mainly taking place in two areas: existing urban district heating networks in metropolitan areas and smaller, mostly new heating networks in rural areas. There are also promising market prospects for the housing industry.

 

Video © AGFW

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26.05.2021 Join the Virtual Power Plant Tour and Webinar on Efficient and Renewable Heat Networks on 16.06.2021

Located in the northwest part of Germany’s capital city Berlin, Vattenfall operates the combined heat and power plant Reuter West. Commissioning in 1987 and 1989 the two identical heat and power plant units generate electricity (installed capacity of 564 MWel) and heat (installed capacity of 878 MWth) simultaneously according to the principle of cogeneration. Despite the age of the CHP of 30-years, the fuel utilization efficiency amounts to 80% due to ongoing efficiency and optimisation measures.

Equipped with efficient flue gas cleaning systems the generation units still represent a highly efficient hard coal plant. To reach the climate goals and supporting the heat transition Germany decided to have a coal phase out during the next years. As a result, the heat and power generation needs to find some alternatives and Vattenfall Berlin has already been driving this process for several years.

In September 2019 for example, Vattenfall connected Europe‘s largest power-to-heat plant (120 MWth) to the district heating network at the Reuter West power plant area in Berlin. As the general optimisation and upgrade process and the transformation to higher shares of renewable energies are also targets of European (H2020) research activities the virtual study tour is embedded in an online webinar from Upgrade DH and RES-DHC.

Sign up to participate at the high-level webinar with examples and ideas from all over Europe and join the virtual study tour. In addition to visiting some areas that are not accessible otherwise and insights of ongoing innovative activities for the real heat transition, you will afterwards have the opportunity to find your own way through a virtual model of Reuter West.

REGISTRATION SHEET
AGENDA

 

 

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27.04.2021 Press release - UpgradeDH recommendations to support national District Heating & Cooling Action Plans

The Upgrade DH project supports the upgrading and retrofitting of district heating (DH) systems in different climate regions of Europe, covering various countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and The Netherlands. These countries are quite diverse in terms of the DH share in the total residential heating demand (ranging from 2.3% in Italy to 64.8% in Denmark) and primary energy sources used to produce heat (from mostly coal in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Poland to mostly renewable energy sources in Lithuania and Denmark). While it is widely acknowledged that district heating and cooling (DHC) systems should have a significant role in the future decarbonised energy system, clear action plans for the development or retrofitting of DHC networks are non-existent in the vast majority of European countries:

Press release

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07.04.2021 Tuzla joins #DHCities in the campaign We are all connected

Another UpgradeDH city undergoing a transformation of the district heating system, joined Euroheat & Power’s campaign “We are all connected”. This campaign is showcasing cities’ leadership in the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector with DHC solutions.

The story of district heating belongs to the cities we live in! On this interactive map, cities across Europe are telling about their plans to use district heating (and sometimes even cooling) to help realise their decarbonisation objectives.

The city of Tuzla is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina that surely is a leader when it comes to district heating. In the last ten years, they invested a lot, of both, time and money in reconstructing heating substations, all in order to optimize the system and reduce the consumption of thermal energy, as well as to increase energy efficiency of more than 1200 substations. Find out more about their long-term plans here: https://dhcities.eu/?location=Tuzla

For more information, please visit https://www.epbih.ba/; http://www.grijanjetuzla.ba/; http://grad.tuzla.ba/

 

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12.02.2021 Join the webinar Retrofitting DHC - How to develop a successful action plan, 23.02.2021

In order to decarbonise the energy system in the shortest possible time, it is essential to implement practicable and available solutions now. To decarbonise the heating sector, specifically, it is key for this transition to be systematically defined, so that all those relevant stakeholders at the EU, national and local level, are involved in a harmonised way.

The main objective of the EU projects UpgradeDH and KeepWarm is to support further uptake of district heating in Europe, in particular by making recommendations to national governments and local authorities on how to approach DHS retrofitting. On one hand, Upgrade DH is developing concrete national action plans for the retrofitting of inefficient networks in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and the Netherlands. On the other hand, the action plans developed in the framework of the KeepWarm project focus on Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

During this webinar we will explore how to develop successful action plans to retrofit DH networks in Europe, learning from concrete case studies from the two abovementioned projects, such as Germany and Slovenia. Our speakers will analyse expected legislative challenges and recommended solutions to successfully overcome them.  

MORE INFORMATION & REGISTRATION

 

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14.01.2021 Webinar: Retrofitting with renewable energies - finding the right mix, 26.01.2021

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30.10.2020 Online Upgrade DH Workshop on 12.11.2020 alongside the KeepWarm final event

Keeping our cities sustainably warm - Inspiring the Efficient Renewal of District Heating for the Just Transition.

KeepWarm‘s online International Inspire Event aims to explore the role which district heating (DH) has, especially for DH retrofits (i.e. increasing DH networks’ efficiency and/or decarbonisation through more sustainable energy sources), in relevant strategies at multiple levels of governance. It features high-level speakers representing local to European institutions to discuss DH’s crucial role in contributing to a Just Transition, Green Recovery and climate/energy goals. The ultimate purpose of this e-event is to foster interactive dialogue which helps to scale up implementation through the strategic acceleration of policy and financial frameworks which suitably support DH retrofits.

More information

Agenda

Registration

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30.10.2020 Photo competition Meet the ones who keep you warm! in the framework of the #DHCitizen campaign

It is time to promote the people involved in DHC and the faces behind! We are launching a photo contest:

- To participate, please submit a photo of an employee on-site, who is proud of doing his/her job.

- Accompany this photo with a few words about the person: name, organisation, occupation, etc.

- We will share this on social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook) with the hashtag #DHCitizen.

- By end of February 2021, we will count the likes for each post.

- The person, who gets the most likes, will be featured in an article on the Euroheat & Power website and will receive an online ticket for our next Congress “Forward Together.”

More information about the competition

 

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02.10.2020 Digital Event: The Future of district heating in Italy

The Upgrade DH project partners in Italy are organising a digital event on 02.10.2020 about the future of district heating in Italy. The event will be the opportunity to openly present, in an international context and in the presence of representatives of Institutions, the study on the development potential of District Heating in Italy carried out jointly by Polytechnic of Milan and of Turin, and to receive updates on the European project UpGrade DH developments. During round tables, the concrete opportunities that district heating offers to a Sustainable development and economic recovery of the Country will be brought to light.

Registration

Agenda

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EU project UpgradeDH launches campaign: Become a #DHCitizen!

UpgradeDH is launching an image raising campaign to promote modern district heating networks. The campaign aims to improve the perception of district heating at local level, thus establishing district heating as a viable solution for the energy transition, in the minds of citizens. The webpage www.dhcitizen.eu provides information on DHC, as well as its role in decarbonising our cities. In addition, it highlights examples of decarbonisation success stories thought an integrated #DHCities map.

Download the press release  

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3.07.2019 New handbook on upgrading district heating grids in Europe published

Munich, 03.07.2019. District Heating (DH) systems present a high potential for the transition of the heat sector, both technically and organizationally. They allow the integration of renewable energies, they serve to improve the overall energy efficiency and they facilitate sector coupling (coupling between heating, electricity and mobility). However, many DH systems need to be continuously upgraded so that they are efficient and have zero (or close to zero) emissions and thus, contribute to mitigate climate change.

DH systems are very individual with their own characteristics and upgrading processes can be very complex, time-consuming, and implying high investments. Hence, more than one year was needed to put all the knowledge of the Upgrade DH consortium partners on paper and to elaborate a handbook with the title “Upgrading the performance of district heating networks - Technical and non-technical approaches; A Handbook”.

Experiences from different European countries were used to describe the technical and non-technical approaches in DH upgrading processes. The handbook is available in English and 6 other languages: Bosnian, Croatian, Danish, Italian, Lithuanian, and Polish. In several countries, there is a lack of such information in national language and thus, the handbook presents a great opportunity to easily get into the topic of upgrading DH systems. The aim is to inform stakeholders such as decision makers, politicians, utilities, operators, end consumers, or potential developers of DH systems, about upgrading opportunities. Thereby, the ambition of the handbook is not to provide a detailed technical guideline for technicians, but rather to give an overview on upgrading options. 

Download the Press Release

 

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27.05.2020 Webinar on upgrading heat distribution and piping technologies

The second Upgrade DH webinar will be organised on 4th June 2020 at 14:00 CET on Upgrading heat distribution and piping technologies.

An essential part of the DH systems is the heat distribution network, which connects the heat generators with the heat sinks. The objective is to guarantee a reliable heat supply which is adjusted to the grid needs and which is as efficient as possible.

Join this webinar to find out more about this topic! REGISTER HERE  

The presentations and the recording are available HERE

 

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29.04.2020: A series of public thematic webinars by UpgradeDH partners

The series of the public UpgradeDH webinars kicks-off on Thursday, 30 April in the framework of the DHC+ Talks. The first webinar will focus on the non-technical aspects of upgrading projects. The presenters from WIP Renewable Energies, AGFW, JP Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. Sarajevo and University of Zagreb will share their expertise in strategies, contracts, stakeholder engagement, business models, and much more. Please register for the webinar on Apr 30, 2020 2:00 PM CEST here. The topics and the timing of the future UpgradeDH webinars will be published in due course.

Presentations of the webinar on 30 April 2020 are available here.

 

Recording of the webinar on 30 April is available here.

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1.10.2019 The Upgrade DH project and the Handbook is in the news of the European Commission

Horizon 2020 projects UgradeDH and KeepWarm have made upgrading of inefficient district heating system easier. New handbooks and training courses have been produced that will help operators of existing district heating systems understand the opportunities of improved energy efficiency and a transition to a sustainable energy system.

The KeepWarm project has trained over 500 district heating operators in Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Ukraine. The training courses were tailor-made for each country following an assessment of needs across 29 district heating operators. KeepWarm maintains a Learning Centre which offers free material on business models and funding, thermal planning tools, policy recommendations and case studies of best practice in district heating. The project is now supporting the operators to develop business plans for upgrades to their own district heating systems.

The UpgradeDH project has published a handbook that outlines opportunities for the energy efficient upgrading of district heating systmes. The handbook is aimed at decision makers, utilities and system operators, and is available in English, Danish, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Croatian and Bosnian.

Heating and hot water account for 79% of EU households’ final energy use, therefore action to upgrade old and inefficient district heating systems will make a significant contribution to Europe’s climate and energy goals.
 
Published on 30/09/2019

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/news/upgrading-inefficient-district-heating-systems?pk_campaign=whatsup-week40-2019&pk_kwd=inefficient%20district%20heating%20systems&pk_medium=Newsletter 

 

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9.04-12.04.2019: Progress Meeting and site visit of the demo case in Bosnia & Herzegovina

The second Progress Meeting of the Upgrade DH project will take place on 9-11 April in Bosnia Herzegovina.

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10.10-12.10.2018: 1st Progress Meeting and site visit of the demo case in Lithuania

The first Progress Meeting of the Upgrade DH project took place on 10-12 October 2018 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Under the coordination of WIP, the consortium discussed about the first oucomes of the project and agreed on further steps.

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3.05-4.05 2018: Upgrade DH Kick-off-Meeting

3-4 May 2018: The Kick-off-meeting of the Upgrade DH project took place on 3-4 May 2018 in Munich, Germany. Under the coordination of WIP, the consortium planned the work programme for the upcoming three project years and focused on the work of the upcoming 6 months. The Kick-off-meeting is an internal meeting for the consortium only.

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