This analysis aims to illuminate how district heating generates value for society through integration with the overall energy system.
The Danish district heating sector is characterized by providing green solutions for the benefit of Denmark.
We deliver green heat to more than 1.8 million Danish households, serving 3.7 million Danes. These are the same Danish homeowners who either directly, through a cooperative, or indirectly through the municipality, own the Danish district heating companies. And it’s the same 3.7 million Danes who demand their district heating company to always provide green heat. They have high expectations for the comfort we must deliver.
But fortunately, Danish district heating companies do much more than that.
We contribute to ensuring the security of supply in our electricity system, which is becoming increasingly green but also more fluctuating. Here, our combined heat and power plants provide the necessary balance so that each of us has electricity when we need it.
We have taken the lead in meeting our climate goals. Today, 76.9 percent of district heating comes from green renewable energy sources. And by 2030, we expect the sector to have reached its goal and thus be 100 percent green.
At the same time, a wide range of companies – especially waste energy facilities – are involved in projects where we will capture, store, and utilize CO2. It was not foreseen just a handful of years ago that the waste energy sector would be one of the sectors driving some of the most forward-thinking technological developments we have experienced at home in recent years.
We create value by utilizing surplus heat from industry, including upcoming Power-to-X plants. Analyses show that selling surplus heat to district heating can improve the competitiveness of PtX plants located in Denmark compared to neighboring countries without widespread district heating.
I hope you will enjoy this publication, where we have gathered some of the contributions that the Danish district heating sector provides to us, to homeowners, and to society.
Jesper Frost Rasmussen, Chairman of the Danish District Heating Association
This analysis was prepared by the Danish District Heating Association