District cooling can ensure Danish export worth billions

Denmark is known for its district heating industry, which exported worth four billion DKK in 2011. But that is nothing compared to the potential of district heating´s relatively unknown “namesake”, district cooling.

With district cooling, the product is cold water, which is distributed to the users in a closed pipe system in the same way as district heating.
 
Because the energy consumption is approximately one half compared with traditional cooling, the potential is huge.

“We know that the cooling need in a few years will exceed the heat demand. Huge investments take place with district cooling and it is a huge business globally, “says Lars Hummelmose, CEO of DBDH, the Danish District Heating Industry, to energy magazine Energiwatch.
 
Lars Hummelmose says that the greatest opportunity in the short term is in Europe, where the market is booming, but where only a small portion of the cooling load is today covered by district cooling.

Two things stand in the way of a potential Danish export success, the rules must be changed so that district heating plants can invest in district cooling, and more and larger projects must be established.

Source: The Danish District Heating Association