Danish district heating sector seminar with focus on Southeast Europe, November 25th

On the 25th of November 2013, a delegation from the Southeast region of Europe visited the DBDH-premises. Members and associated partners of DBDH were invited to the seminar with the objective to meet the Ambassadors and the Trade Advisors from the Embassies of the following Southeastern European (SEE) countries:

• Turkey
• Greece
• Israel
• Romania
• Cyprus

The SEE region consists of approximately 120 million population, and represents several business opportunities to Danish companies in several sectors including district heating, energy efficiency and infrastructure sectors. The region is also witnessing complex political and economic challenges, which should be managed carefully, both during the market entry period, however also subsequent to the establishment of local companies due to its different business etiquettes, higher importance given to social networks etc.

In this context, DBDH had the pleasure of welcoming members and other companies of interest to this sector seminar.

Subsequent to a brief welcome from Lars Hummelmose (Managing Director of DBDH), the embassies presented their vision on the respective market situations. When available, presentations from the day can be downloaded here.

[wpfilebase tag=fileurl id=149 linktext=’DH Turkey’ /]
[wpfilebase tag=fileurl id=146 linktext=’DH Bulgaria’ /]
[wpfilebase tag=fileurl id=147 linktext=’DH Greece’ /]
[wpfilebase tag=fileurl id=148 linktext=’DH Romania’ /]

Main topics from each presentation comprised:

Greece:

– Market situation is affected by economic situation

– Some pilot projects are presently being initiated, whereas if these are successful, the market will open to more investments

– The majority of all projects are government/EU-funded

– District cooling is a very potential market, however still no direct reference projects apply

Turkey:

– Turkey is presently experiencing a very positive development with regard to various sectors (economy, education, unemployment, etc.)

– The geothermal market is well established

– DH-market is still relatively limited

– District cooling is a very potential market, however still no direct reference projects apply

– Presently the government is discussing transforming some power plants into CHP-plants.

Provided the assumption that the government decides to initiate these transition projects, a significant potential market will apply.

Romania:

– Presently the DH-market is under pressure by the gas-prices (de-centralized heating)

– The DH-grid generally is well developed, however CHP-plants, sub stations and DH-grids need to be modernized (increase energy efficiency)

– As the gas market will be liberalized within the near future, the competitiveness for the DH-grid potentially will be feasible

– Romania has a huge renewable energy potential (biomass, wind, etc.)

– Currently the government is evaluating to initiate two biomass CHP-plant projects (2 x 25 MW).

Cyprus and Israel:

– Presently in all households, heating and cooling is generally established via local sources (air conditioning or local heat pumps).

– Particularly district cooling is a potential, however the market will need to consolidate

Following up on the above presentations, a networking session was arranged, facilitating the Danish companies to meet and discuss specific topics, markets and technologies with the Ambassadors and Trade Advisors from the region.

Based on interest, DBDH can offer a more specific, project oriented fact-finding trip to chosen countries in the region.