District heating gives a lot of jobs

38,000 new intelligent meters to Elsinore – and several other export orders to countries such as Norway and Ghana. The trend is positive and points upwards for Kamstrup, which is one of the leading meter manufacturers on the international district heating market. So positive that the company has just announced that it expects to hire an additional 100 employees.

The same positive trend brands is felt by other district heating Companies, e.g. Babcock & Wilkox Vølund with a turnover Progress of 20 percent in 2014.

The order has already led to hirings. “There is a large growth in the district heating industry in Denmark. The growth is based on the extensive know-how we have built here at home in Denmark with the unique use of district heating by two-thirds of households”, says Lars Hummelmose, managing director of DBDH.

Since 2007, the Danish district heating companies have increased exports significantly by 36 percent to now 5 billion DKK. The expectation is that this export growth will continue and that it is increased by a billion DKK annually up until 2020. This will also create 4,000 new jobs.

Long-term investments
“A strong domestic market is the best case for the companies because they can showcase the technological solutions. Danish district heating plants invest on a long-term basis, creating the potential for business Development”, says Lars Hummelmose.

The international community has great interest to come visit and look at Danish solutions – recently a major delegation came from the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Lars Hummelmose suggests that one reason for the international interest is a goal of energy efficiency, where Denmark is among the leading countries because of the widespread use of district heating, which creates enormous flexibility in the overall energy system both by storing energy for later use and by exploit virtually all conceivable sources.

Danish district heating plants annually invest 5 billion DKK in new green solutions, renovation and expansion of supply areas. This creates around 6,000 jobs. Last year, more than 20,000 new households were connected to the district heating network.