Denmark district heating and CHP a model for the world

The Danish government are blazing a trail in pursuing a renewable energy future and is hoping its success will rub off on others.

Interviewed in Deutsche Welle online this week, leading energy spokespersons emphasised the roles district energy and combined heat and power can play in cleaner and more prosperous future.

Kristoffer Böttzauw, the deputy director general of the Danish energy agency Energistyrelsen, which coordinates Denmark’s energy policy said China was paying attention to Danish methods.

“China has expressed a great interest in our district heating systems, along with biomass technology and offshore wind turbines,” said Böttzauw. “We went to China to help deal with the energy and climate problems caused by economic growth there” – the same motivation that has driven Denmark’s energy policies. We just want to show that it’s feasible.”

Meanwhile Tobias Austrup, an expert on renewables for Greenpeace, says Denmark’s experience offers an example to larger neighbours. “Denmark has shown that industrialized countries are able to carry out real, genuine and rapid energy transition in the middle of Europe.”

Austrup sees the Danish energy policy as a blueprint for Europe and Germany. “So far, the German energy transition is only in terms of electricity,” he said. He went on to name a few ideas from Denmark that he would like to see introduced in Germany, including a ban on fossil fuel heating and an intensified cogeneration of heat and power. “These plants are highly efficient. They use waste heat from the generation of electricity for heating.”

 COSPP