COOL DH at EUSEW: LTDH innovations and front-runner demo sites

The 1st European Technical Workshop of the COOL DH project took place in Brussels on 17 June and was held as an official Energy Day in the framework of EUSEW 2019.

The objective of COOL DH action is to support cities in their endeavor to plan and deploy new, efficient district heating and cooling (DHC) systems and extend, refurbish existing ones to higher standards. One year and a half after the start of the project, the workshop was an occasion to gather researchers, policy makers, public authorities and utilities. The workshop focused both on technical and non-technical topics concerning the COOL DH innovations and front-runner demo sites (i.e. Europe’s largest LTDH network in Lund) allowing comparisons with other related initiatives (such as the TEMPO project) and sharing of experiences and best practices.

In particular, the first session was dedicated to the non-technical barriers and regulatory frameworks concerning the low-temperature DH and the use of surplus heat. The panel debate underlined the importance of the issue of the legionella and how to avoid this risk when lowering the temperature. The debate also involved a representative of the City of Rotterdam who presented the Dutch situation and the improvements in the district heating sector that are being implemented in the country, namely on the side of energy transition. Finally, the “non-technical” session highlighted the differences in Europe among the different legislative frameworks on the use of local renewable sources and surplus heat, as well as the importance of a clearer regulation on financing.

The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the innovative technical solutions of COOL DH . The sessions also represented an opportunity to compare COOL DH innovations with the sister initiative TEMPO. Thus, during the “pimp my pipe” presentations, Thermaflex (for the TEMPO project) and Logstor (for COOL DH) respectively showcased their innovative piping systems for LTDH. The session was followed by further presentations on some envisaged solutions in COOL DH, such as the “optimisation of cascade coupling for substations” and the issue of “domestic appliances for LTDH”. As for TEMPO, the three different solution packages were presented alongside a digital tool for non-expert users developed by Vattenfall.

The following technical debate underlined, among others, the innovations on the distribution side as one of the most important challenges for the future of district heating, in particular for low-density heat areas (i.e. rural networks).

This workshop was just the first in a series of events to be organised in Brussels in the next years to showcase the outcomes of this truly pioneering initiative in the field of district heating. The presentations are available here.

WEBINAR: If you have missed the 1st European Technical workshop of COOL DH, please note that a webinar is being organised in the second part of July where you will be able to learn more about the COOL DH project and to ask questions directly to the speakers. More details to follow in the coming weeks.