PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Heating and cooling systems are responsible for around half of all the energy consumed in the EU and represent the largest energy end use, ahead of transport and electricity. The supply of heating and cooling for urban areas varies markedly from one country to another and from city to city. Oil and natural gas boilers account for around 70% of all heating consumption (3 500 TWh/yr), requiring a high consumption of natural resources and having a great impact on the environment. Reliance on boilers also increases Europe’s dependency on imported energy.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE4HeatRecovery aims to demonstrate a new generation of highly efficient district heating networks. By means of reversible heat pumps used either for heat recovery or heat utilisation, the project’s networks will recover urban waste heat sources available at low temperature, i.e. lower than 40°C, and in district heating networks operated at conventional temperature (third generation, working around 70 to 90°C) or at low temperature (fifth generation, at 10 to 25°C).
Specifically, the LIFE4HeatRecovery networks will aim to:
Demonstrate the opportunity for and effectiveness of waste heat recovery from multiple urban sources; Demonstrate management strategies for district heating networks that can prioritise the harvesting of waste energy sources over fossil fuels use and negotiate with the electricity grid the best prices from a utility and customer perspective for the electricity used by the heat pumps; Demonstrate trading schemes (business models) that would allow utility companies to manage thermal energy fed by or purchased from different customers; and Develop financial schemes that enable large public and private investments to be mobilised. LIFE4HeatRecovery addresses climate change mitigation priorities by developing and deploying mitigation solutions.
Expected results:
Technical and financial solutions trialled in four networks in three Member States - Italy, Germany and the Netherlands - in order to assess their environmental and socio-economic performance; Four different modular and standardised prefabricated skids devised and demonstrated, integrating waste heat sources in district heating networks; Establishment of a database of district heating network solutions and waste heat sources that includes energy, environmental and economic performance data, and is publicly available; A study of trading schemes in order to facilitate thermal energy exchange on thedistrict heating and cooling network’s free market; and A financing and risk management plan for utility companies and investors based on synergies in the use of public and private finance.
