Spatial analysis of renewable and excess heat potentials for climate-neutral district heating in Europe

District heating can play a decisive role in the transformation to a climate-neutral building sector, replacing fossil fuels. Renewable and excess heat potentials for district heating are often spatially limited and a consistent EU-wide analysis of the potentials is not yet available. In this paper, we quantify the renewable and excess heat potentials that could supply future district heating areas for the entire EU. We combine different data sets with a high spatial resolution and conduct spatial matching. Subsequently, we cluster the results for the potentials for individual district heating areas to derive representative types. The results show that the renewable and excess heat potentials together with heat pumps are overall sufficient to supply the future district heating demand, with high technical potentials from geothermal heat and excess heat from wastewater treatment plants. Decreasing the system temperatures increases the amount of available potentials. Lower heat densities and the overall character of the future supply sources require a paradigm shift in DH systems. Large central CHP units will need to be replaced by a diversity of several smaller sources, often combined with heat pumps and utilized at lower system temperatures

Spatial analysis of renewable and excess heat potentials for climate-neutral district heating in Europe

Supplementary datasets to the journal paper in excel format for results and GIS-datasets (raster and vector) for dataset

Spatial analysis of renewable and excess heat potentials for climate-neutral district heating in Europe

Supplementary datasets to the journal paper in excel format for results and GIS-datasets in vector format for dataset

District heating distribution grid costs: a comparison of two approaches

Since the introduction of the effective width concept for the estimation of the linear heat density, it has been frequently used by researchers to calculate district heating distribution grid costs in pre-feasibility phases. Some researchers however, still prefer using a detailed modelling approach to get reliable results. This paper aims at highlighting advantages, disadvantages and challenges of using effective width concept for calculation of district heating distribution grid costs in comparison to a detailed, optimisation-based modelling approach such as DHMIN. The outcomes of this paper reveal that although there are differences in obtained indicators such as trench length or distribution gird costs, both approaches deliver very similar patterns in different areas with various heat demand densities and plot ratios. Furthermore, it was revealed that for getting reliable results for a given case study, the input parameters and cost components should always be tuned to that case study regardless of the approach that is used

Impact of distribution and transmission investment costs of district heating systems on district heating potential

In this paper, we use a heat density map (HDM) and a plot ratio map to propose a GIS-based method for determining potential DH areas with specific focus on district heating (DH) grid costs. The DH areas are determined via performing sensitivity analyses on the HDM under consideration of predefined upper bound of the average distribution costs. The approach additionally allows for estimation of length and diameter of transmission lines and their associated costs. The outputs are GIS layers that illustrate areas that are economically viable for construction of DH as well as the cost-minimal transmission lines connecting these regions to each other. The impacts of key input parameters like grid costs ceiling and market share on potential and on expansion and extension of the DH systems were studied for the case study of Vienna. The results showed that the increase of DH market share in DH areas under a certain grid cost ceiling significantly reduce average grid costs. In addition, it was revealed that the expansion of DH system without increasing the market share in the DH areas does not effectively increase the share of DH from the total heat demand and leads to higher average grid costs. These results call for policy interventions like spatial heat planning, zoning and implementation of district heating priority areas.HotMaps (EC H2020 grant agreement

Open Source Data for Gross Floor Area and Heat Demand Density on the Hectare Level for EU 28

The planning of heating and cooling supply and demand is key to reaching climate and sustainability targets. At the same time, data for planning are scarce for many places in Europe. In this study, we developed an open source dataset of gross floor area and energy demand for space heating and hot water in residential and tertiary buildings at the hectare level for EU28 + Norway, Iceland, and Switzerland. This methodology is based on a top-down approach, starting from a consistent dataset at the country level (NUTS 0), breaking this down to the NUTS 3 level and further to the hectare level by means of a series of regional indicators. We compare this dataset with data from other sources for 20 places in Europe. This process shows that the data for some places fit well, while for others, large differences up to 45% occur. The discussion of these results shows that the other data sources used for this comparison are also subject to considerable uncertainties. A comparison of the developed data with maps based on municipal building stock data for three cities shows that the developed dataset systematically overestimates the gross floor area and heat demand in low density areas and vice versa. We conclude that these data are useful for strategic purposes on aggregated level of larger regions and municipalities. It is especially valuable in locations where no detailed data is available. For detailed planning of heating and cooling infrastructure, local data should be used instead. We believe our work contributes towards a transparent, open source dataset for heating and cooling planning that can be regularly updated and is easily accessible and usable for further research and planning activities.European Union's Horizon 202