Heat planning and a robust roll-out of district heating (DH) is a challenge that municipalities share across regions and national borders. Knowledge exchange and detailed discussions are central to the Front-Runner Cities II (FRC-II) project for Dutch municipalities.
From 9-10 October 2023, a group of Dutch municipalities – from small to very large – visited Denmark to talk to local politicians, municipal staff, and DH companies. The visit was organised to support the municipalities and dig deeper into the topics they selected at an earlier workshop in the Netherlands. The visit to Denmark had several purposes:
- Discuss municipalities’ different and essential roles in the sustainable heat transition. This includes authority, planner, owner, and facilitator roles for a sustainable heat/city transition.
- Learn from challenges and solutions in a Danish municipality trying to engage citizens and facilitate change in rural and urban areas.
- Experience DH in operation, see different heat sources, and discuss different ways of panning and realising sustainable DH.
- Improve Dutch-Danish collaboration and strengthen networks in the Netherlands.
Thank you to all Dutch and Danish participants for engaging in active knowledge sharing and interesting discussions of how to move forward. And a special thank you to the hosts: Viborg Varme, GUES, Grundfos, Hjørring municipality, Sindal Varmeforsyning, and Aalborg Forsyning.
The Front-Runner Cities project (FRC-II) is funded by the Danish Energy Agency and organised in collaboration with VNG (the Dutch Association of Municipalities), the Danish Embassy in the Netherlands, and DBDH.
