Suchergebnisse

This report provides guidance about how to carry out strategic heat planning activities within the EU-28 member states, in order to address three main challenges: reducing CO2-emissions, improving the security of supply, and improving the economic balance by circulating a larger share of energy costs within the European Union. Strategic heat planning may also address several local or regional issues, such as utilising local heat sources or improving air quality. Strategic energy planning addresses issues with current energy supply and formulates strategies for transitions. It largely depends upon the technical, societal and economic context of the energy supply, as the actors involved, means of actions and available options will differ between situations. Strategic heat planning activities are interdisciplinary activities carried out within established networks of actors and institutions. These networks include diverse agents such as public authorities on several organisational levels; private energy companies, incumbents supplying consumers and emerging companies delivering new technological solutions; established infrastructure, grids and supply methods; energy regulation, taxation and subsidies; resource availability, domestic as well as imported fuels, and, related to this; energy security issues; political agreements for future energy supply and the methods used to combat climate change; and the companies and consumers who have to adopt technologies and pay energy bills. This report presents a three-phase framework for carrying out strategic heat planning activities. These phases may depend upon contexts and scopes of analysis. Before beginning the analysis, an initial process to define the scope and goals of the strategic heat planning activities should be carried out.

This work studies the transformation of energy grids of the European Union (EU) in the frame of the energy transition. Three energy grid types are considered namely the electricity, thermal and gas grids. Regarding electricity grids, we investigate the required reinforcements of the low-voltage networks (e.g. replacing the distribution transformer by one of higher nominal power, replacing cables by cables of larger cross-section) in order to integrate residential low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, photovoltaic systems and electric vehicles. To do so, we develop a methodology for the quantification of EU low-voltage grid reinforcement costs following residential low-carbon technologies integration. This methodology uses urbanisation data to determine the share of dwellings in rural and urban areas in EU28 countries (EU27 + United Kingdom). It is also based on a model that quantifies the grid reinforcement cost as a function of the low-carbon technologies integration scenario for representative rural and urban grids. This model is composed of three sub-models, namely the dwelling, grid and economic models. We also collected data from 24 open access grids (i.e. grids of which the specifications are freely accessible online) and 23 scientific articles and reports to determine the parameter values of the grid and economic models for EU28 countries. Finally, we provide example applications that illustrate the methodology by computing the grid reinforcement costs from heat pumps and photovoltaic systems integration in Belgium and Italy. Results indicate that, in the largest majority of cases, both for Belgian and Italian grids, the reinforcement cost per dwelling remains below 350 € per dwelling (total cost for the whole lifespan of 33 years). The only case where more significant reinforcement costs occurred (> 350 €/dwelling and up to 1150 €/dwelling) is for the Belgian rural grid with heat pump integration rates larger than 40%. When it comes to thermal grids, we investigate the deployment of district ...

This report takes on an energy system perspective to quantify the benefits of energy efficiency in the European heating and cooling sector. This holistic approach enables to take into account sectors and systems interconnections in new ways. Doing so reveals significant results: for a future low-carbon EU energy system it is essential that energy efficiency measures on the supply side, like district energy, are considered with equal importance for decarbonisation as measures on the demand side, like heat savings. They are fundamental to the technical and economic viability of the Smart Energy System. District energy enables the use of sustainable energy that otherwise could not be utilised e.g. geothermal, industrial waste heat, solar thermal. District heating is essential for low-cost energy storage and creates an important link to the electricity sector via large-scale heat pumps. A more interconnected energy system enables sector integration. In the same way, district cooling often offer a direct opportunity to use the extracted heat in other applications e.g. district heating thus representing yet another synergy opportunity. Based on the Heat Roadmap Europe project series, this report elaborates an investment roadmap and policy recommendations to implement the Heat Roadmap Europe scenario in 2050. To reach a fully decarbonised energy system in 2050, it is essential to establish many new district heating systems now, with a significant expansion of these from 2025. This report stresses the urgency of immediate action, and that the redesign of energy systems requires long-term strategic energy planning. It is necessary to maintain long-term goals and translate them into actionable steps such as investment levels, new capacity targets, energy efficiency targets and others.