Small wooden house on green area. Iamge Leteng Lin

Project: DecarbonDHS – Decarbonization of District Heating Systems

The project aims to promote the decarbonization of district heating systems and facilitate the transition towards sustainable and low-carbon solutions, by integrating renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, utilizing waste heat from industry and incorporating energy storage technologies.

Project information

Project manager
Leteng Lin
Participating organizations
The DecarbonDHS consortium comprises eight partners from Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Denmark, and Sweden. The lead partner is the Institute of Fluid-Flow, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland. The other partners include OPEC Heat Distribution Company, Poland; IWEN Energy Institute, Germany; Lithuanian Energy Institute, Lithuania; Bornholms Energy & Forsyning A/S, Denmark; Kretinga District Heating Company, Lithuania; Kretinga District Municipality Administration, Lithuania; and Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden. There are also four associated partners: Energy Agency, Southern Sweden, Sweden; Association of Polish Communes, Euroregion Baltic, Poland; Lessebo District Heating Company, Sweden; and Stadtwerke Rostock AG, Germany.
Financier
The project is co-financed from the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 through the European Regional Development Fund.
Timetable
1 Jul 2024-30 Jun 2027
Subject
Bioenergy technology (Department of Built Environment and Energy Technology, Faculty of Technology)
Research group
Bioresource Technology
Website
https://decarbondhs.eu/

More about the project

DecarbonDHS – Decarbonization of District Heating Systems aims to promote the decarbonization of district heating systems and facilitate the transition towards sustainable and low-carbon solutions, by integrating renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, utilizing waste heat from industry and incorporating energy storage technologies.

The heating and cooling sector consumes about half of the EU’s energy, where 12% of heating is delivered by district heating systems. The latter are fuelled mainly using coal and natural gas. Effective substitution of fossil fuels for heating/cooling systems is needed in respect to strategic goals: decarbonization, climate mitigation and reducing the ecological footprint, as well as energy security – reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, including from hostile countries.

There are several key challenges in the field of district heating (DH), especially in large cities, that need to be considered: aging infrastructure, energy efficiency (heat losses, grid optimization and waste heat utilisation), integration of renewable energy, heat demand fluctuations, high initial (investment) costs, regulations and policy, decentralization and smart grids, heat prices and its affordability.

Addressing these challenges requires a combination of technological advancements, policy support, public awareness, and collaboration among stakeholders, including policy makers, city authorities, heat and energy providers, urban planners, researchers and residents.

DecarbonDHS targets the following stakeholders: local communities, municipal administration and experts, local and regional authorities, local/regional and national policy makers, including ministries of the energy and environment and politicians, as well as environmental protection agencies and industry (heat/energy providing companies).

The project is part of the research in the Bioresource Technology research group.

Logo DecarbonDHS + Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027 through the European Regional Development Fund
Logotyper other participating organisations