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DANISH DISTRICT HEATING UTILITIES

If you cannot make it to Denmark for a live interaction with the leading experts on management, planning, technology, our video library is your chance to see and learn from the specialists.
This section features state-of-the-art district heating companies, technology, and management. You can learn from managers of district heating companies about planning, heat sources, customer interaction, and much more.

In this section, you will have the opportunity to learn about the inner workings and operations of some of Denmark’s leading district heating providers.
From the companies’ history to their current projects and plans, you will get a comprehensive look at how these utilities are working to provide sustainable and efficient heating solutions to their communities.

From natural gas to carbon-free for 6,000 new customers

Egedal, north of Copenhagen, is a small DH (District Heating) company with 1.000 customers. But soon they grow to 6 – 7.000. Wood chips from the local forest cover 80%, solar thermal covers the summer months, and heat pumps optimes the system.

Wood pellets are for peak. Storage plays a vital role. Later, they will have surplus heat from data centers. The next step is converting significantly from gas heating for many buildings and houses. And then the rental service for heat units is a success.

Surplus heat from data centres, industry, and sewage water

Fjernvarme Fyn wants to get rid of coal for heating and will do so through multiple heat sources. Odense is home to the famous Facebook district heating installation – 44 MW of capacity in the heat pumps.

Nearly all plants use their own “surplus heat” and boost with heat pumps to maximize the efficiency of all sources – from data, cookies, iron melting, and more. And waste incineration also plays a significant role – 300,000 tons a year is used for heat and electricity.

Pushing out natural gas – using rental units

Conversion of buildings on natural gas is a huge task in Næstved town. The plan is to convert 1.700 buildings (adding 30% extra) within the next 5 years – like many other towns in Denmark.

Installing starts when 75% of the buildings have signed in an area. So, a lot of marketing and outreach is needed. The price also matters – the customers save around 10% compared to the alternative plus benefit from improved service. The fact that the company can finance the connections cost through a small monthly fee also matters.

Dispatching heat in Copenhagen

Varmelast dispatches heat every day for the greater Copenhagen area. The large control room is manned by two persons 24/7, controlling this heating network. Here, decisions on who will deliver heat to the DH system are made six times daily.

From the control room, 1.2 mio people are supplied from 10 central CHPs (Combined Heat and Power) and peak and reserve load boilers. Dispatching is based on prices from various sources. Every 4 hours, the large CHPs tell the price of heat for the coming hours, depending mainly on the power price. Then the production plan is made at the dispatch centre.

Cooling and heating from wastewater

Taarnby, just outside Copenhagen, is a price winning DH company. In Taarnby both the hot and the cold side of the heat pump are being used. Cooling is produced for hotels and offices. Heat for everyone.

The system is based on treated wastewater, that is cooled before being let out to the sea. Raymond explains how the sewage water is a magic touch that can be used for both heating and cooling. The system was awarded by European Heat Pump City Price in 2020 – honouring the unique way of integrating a DH system with sewage water heat pumps.

Visit to a fully renovated home with district heating

Astrid, living in a house in Albertslund, shares how it is to have district heating – and she likes it! The home was energy renovated in connection with a complete refurbishment of the entire house – new windows, insulation, and more.

There is one central regulator from where Astrid controls the temperature in every room through smart valves. A small DH unit for each house is central to regulation. Now there is optimal comfort in each room. And the cost has been reduced by around 50%.

Combined district heating and district cooling

In Høje Taastrup, three energy centers are producing cooling for different groups of cooling users. All three are based on heat pumps that make cooling and heating simultaneously – one is close to an upcoming large data center, where the heat pumps get heat from and deliver cooling back.

The data center will be larger than needed, so some surplus heat will also benefit the neighboring DH companies through the transmission network.
The center has been built large enough to have room also for future new HP installations.
Høje Taastrup has 6 HPs (Heat Pumps) that use different heat sources, e.g., groundwater and data centers

New large-scale pith thermal storage

This heating storage is 70.000 m3 with a capacity of 30 MW, and it benefits the entire Copenhagen system. This size storage is often for seasonal storage, but here, it will be charged and discharged 25 – 30 times a year. The heat from the transmission system is stored in a distribution system.

This way, a DH company can store heat when it is cheap and use it when production would have been more expensive. This benefits both the customer through lower prices and the environment.
The video is from when the storage was under construction – today, it is fully operational.
Finding the right storage place is challenging – close to the pipe system and not too expensive land. But it can be done.

Solar Thermal Plant

In Høje Taastrup, a part of the heat mix is solar thermal. A small plant produces approx. 1.300 MwH every year and covers a fair part of the heating demand during the summer months – and it is renewable. Local and sustainability is an integrated part of the strategy for Høje Taastrup DH Company – like the heat pumps also used in several places.

The plant has its own unique maintenance team – working day and night for the DH consumers. Meet the team in the video.

Stop smoking, the long-term goal for Aalborg DH Company

Alborg, with 200.000 inhabitants, had coal for many years, but that will change now – new heat sources will be introduced. And the key is sector integration.
The goal is 100% RE before 2030

In Aalborg, they call it “Stop Smoking,” which includes solar, surplus heat from industry, and electricity through heat pumps, etc. A part of this journey is also to lower the temperature in the network – the expectation is to reduce it to 70 degrees. Storage is crucial to decouple demand and supply. Therefore, Aalborg investigates building extensive thermal storage.

Cooling will also play a vital role in decarbonizing the city – taking chilly water from a deep lake.

Rental units win over individual natural gas.

Running on a natural gas CHP (Combined Heat and Power), Tom from Viborg has a significant challenge. The electrical boiler and heat pumps will change that.

Viborg will install a 2 7MW air-to-water heat pump covering 39% of the demand – and a few more. Later heat from a large Apple data center will also be connected through a transmission line.
At the same time, developers build new homes in Viborg – all going to be on DH. And Viborg DH converts existing houses to DH from individual natural gas.
Also, in Viborg, the rental unit is in play – making it much easier and cheaper for the tenants to convert to DH. Low monthly cost and no hassle.

From black to green – by the blue ocean

Esbjerg has an extensive and well-functioning DH system with more than 2,500 customers. For many years, it was based on a large coal-fired CHP – and now about to leap into the future using green energy.

The cornerstone is the 50MW heat pump using seawater as the energy source. When running, the heat pump uses 5m3 of water per second.

Heat planning in Denmark – the case of Aalborg

Heat planning is done in pretty much the same way in all municipalities in Denmark. Bring together all stakeholders for meetings, coffee talks, and conferences. The key is to get input from everyone.

Here, you learn about the customer’s concern – often price and hassle with installing. Just sharing the facts is the main message from Jesper (formerly), the director for heat in Aalborg. And tell about how convenient DH it is.
Sustainability is essential but far from number 1. In the broader picture, renewable is important, but the price is what matters for the individual customer.

Communication with the customer

In this video, you meet the person who talks to the customers on the network – and convince them to consider a DH solution. It takes a long time from first contact to the moment the pipes are in the ground.

For many companies, the energy bill does not have a lot of attention – they pay and go on with their business.
Again, a lot of interaction with the customers is critical.

The peak and reserve load takes time to make sustainable.

The peak and reserve load are needed, and you have a lot of capacity standing idle – until it is required on a very chilly day. It is expensive to convert this part of your heat production to sustainable solutions.

In Aalborg, they strive to become “smoke-free” – aiming at not burning anything (inclusive renewables) to heat their town. The route is surplus heat, heat pumps, and electric boilers taking over increasingly in the following years.

Planning and interaction lead to success.

A prominent developer wants to build 300 new homes – learn how Tom from Viborg DH Company worked with the developer to ensure DH was the solution. Here, the green argument was important.

Then, the city was involved, and they also approved the plans.

Network expansion in Viborg

Viborg has great plans for expansion into natural gas-supplied areas. But the customers need to buy in. In Viborg, the threshold for starting to install pipes is around 50% uptake, but because of a small subsidy, that number may go down.

When interest is there, Viborg DH Company makes detailed calculations, and then the ideas will be explained to everyone in the area. The cost needs to be known.
In the end, Tom offers a quick guide to heat planning.

Renting HIU (Heat Interface Units) results in many more sign-ups.

Among many other DH companies, Viborg offers its customers easy and inexpensive opportunities to connect to the DH system. They offer the HIU on a rental basis, inclusive of all services.

The customer then only pays a small monthly fee to the DH company – not needing to make a large payment from day one. This is a successful way of getting customers to sign up, saving money for both the company and the customer.

A DH city with ambitions to expand

Middelfart is a medium-sized town with approx. 40.000 inhabitants. There has been DH for many years. DH is an integrated part of spatial planning and is now the backbone of city planning.

Also, in Middelfart, stakeholder engagement is the key to success – that is the first thing to do. It cannot be done early enough.

Føns DH company – probably the world’s smallest

In the village of Føns, many houses were heated by oil or individual biomass boilers. Then, the citizens decided to make a minor DH network servicing starting with 49 homes (replacing oil boilers).

Now, they have ownership and responsibility for operation and maintenance.

The municipality only intervened when the citizens showed interest and helped with planning, but not with financial support.
A board manages the DH company, and eight volunteers are helping with the daily operations and maintenance. A lot of work is also outsourced. Getting on board is relatively inexpensive and cheaper than the cost of an oil boiler.

Optimizing an existing system with heat pumps

Heat pumps gain increased ground in Danish DH systems. They are one of the roads toward a more sustainable heat supply. The Ringsted DH network is now at 95% renewable heat- part of this from several heat pumps.

In Ringsted (near Copenhagen), they have two sources for the heat pump. The exhaust gas is used directly and then through a heat pump to ensure all the heat has been used. The other source is heat from ambient air from a large evaporator.

Høje Taastrup – Cool DH

In Høje Taastrup municipality – a suburb of Copenhagen – most houses are heated with district heating from multiple sources. The network grows, and the DH company is looking for new sustainable heat sources that fit into their system.

This video gives an overview of the different projects.
Høje Taastrup was a part of the Cool DH project. COOL DH aims to support cities in their endeavor to plan and deploy new, efficient district heating and cooling (DHC) systems and extend and refurbish existing ones to higher standards. Thus, it will allow greater uptake of renewables, recovering excess heat or cold while improving the overall efficiency of the systems.

The World’s largest solar thermal plant

Record-breaking solar heating system ready on time Follow the construction of the record-breaking large-scale solar heating system in Silkeborg, Denmark.

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– Mølle og Flis

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– Blomster, Bier, Sol, Vind og Fjernvarme

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Vedvarende Kraftvarme – Krav eller Pligt?

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– Cool District Heating

Høje Taastrup Fjernvarme

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