This article is written by Lucy Mears, Junior Expert, Events and Project Communications, ICLEI EUROPE.

  • The problem: Many European municipalities face challenges in transitioning to sustainable local energy planning, especially regarding heating and cooling decarbonisation.
  • Why it matters: This transition is crucial for reducing carbon emissions, mitigating climate change and ensuring a sustainable future for communities.
  • The solution: Collaborative efforts, innovative solutions and support mechanisms like the Act!onHeat Support Facility are key to overcoming challenges and driving successful transitions towards greener heating and cooling systems.

A shift in heating and cooling (H&C) planning is occurring across Europe. Local authorities are becoming increasingly involved in decision-making processes to identify the best options for cost-effective local H&C decarbonisation solutions as part of a just energy transition. However, as the heating and cooling transition has only been on national agendas in some countries for a few years, governments are struggling to implement effective and accepted policies in such a short span of time. So, what can be done to support local authorities in this transition?

H&C planning demands a holistic approach that incorporates technical considerations, a careful examination of accompanying measures, community acceptance and organisational commitment. This takes time and requires contributions and expertise from multiple stakeholders, as Ali Aydemir from the Fraunhofer-Institut fĂĽr System- und Innovationsforschung ISI explains:

H&C planning not only has a technical planning component, but also a communicative organisational component. It is important that national legislators do not leave municipalities alone. Local authorities must enter into a dialogue with their citizens about H&C planning. To prevent planning from becoming a paper tiger, it is important to clarify at the national level how it interacts with other measures and how it can increase citizens' willingness to embrace the heat transition.

What European cities are already doing

Within the European context, bureaucratic structures, as well as the fact that targets relating to H&C planning have only been prioritised in recent years, dictate the need for tailored and responsive planning. The recent push in Germany to accelerate the heat transition through revisions to the Building Energy Law exemplifies the complexities involved. Aydemir identifies several key barriers that can hamper projects from the offset: a lack of trained personnel and adequate data and the absence of a common municipal goal.

Two software tools that have been instrumental in some of these cases are Hotmaps and THERMOS, providing planners with low-threshold assistance.

This is where the EU-funded, European-wide Act!onHeat Support Facility can assist local and regional authorities to plug in these gaps. Aware of the resource and time limitations of municipalities, Act!onHeat focuses on intermediaries such as energy agencies to bridge the gap, which also prepares the ground for seamless replication across multiple municipalities.

Sustainable heating and cooling planning requires a multi-pronged line of action, where technical solutions are accompanied by people-centred responses regarding commitments, goals and a collective vision both within communities and across departments. Legislators can contribute by ensuring expectations are clearly outlined and that municipalities have adequate support and appropriate measures and policies to put plans into action. An example of this is the Energy Efficiency Directive, which outlines in detail which outcomes should result from planning. This directive has laid the groundwork for legislative reform at the national level.

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As new paths toward sustainable heating and cooling planning emerge, European municipalities must work together to overcome challenges to realise the potential of the EU’s ambitious green energy targets.

The Act!onHeat Support Facility provides tools, advice and knowledge to a number of municipalities that are making strides toward a more sustainable and greener future across Europe. The tools in question are THERMOS, a free, web-based energy planning software that provides accurate heat and cold network options analysis instantly within one web-based, user-friendly tool, and HotMaps, a GIS-based online software that supports authorities and energy planners to set up a strategic heating and cooling plan for their region. 

In collaboration with Act!onHeat, cities across Belgium, Austria, Germany and North Macedonia in particular have made considerable headway.

Zelzate, Belgium

Experts in Zelzate explored the viability of extending existing heat network proposals involving ArcelorMittal steelworks as a heat source for the Sint-Jan Baptist Psychiatric Centre, with a view to linking to the city centre in the first instance and later to Sas van Gent (Netherlands) as an extension of the project. A second potential heat source from the Cargill starch production plant was also considered.

Output from the THERMOS tool analysis one of several heat network scenarios linking ArcelorMittal steelworks with Zelzate centre One of several heat network scenarios linking ArcelorMittal steelworks with Zelzate centre. Source: output from the THERMOS tool analysis.

Zelzate Municipality brought together a small team for the purposes of the study, which included representatives from the POM Oost-Vlaanderen (Government Office East Flanders), Municipality of Terneuzen and the Provincial Government of Zeeland. With support from Act!onHeat experts, a number of scenarios were modelled and optimised using THERMOS to explore technical and financial feasibility. The outcomes then provided a base for future discussions around sourcing further investment for detailed techno-economic feasibility work. Study coordinator Sam Homan, Senior Analyst from Act!onHeat partner Centre for Sustainable Energy, explains further: 

An existing source of waste heat such as that from the ArcelorMittal plant presents a valuable opportunity to kick-start a local low-carbon heat network. In this respect, the work undertaken through the Act!onHeat support facility helped to narrow down the most promising options and facilitate collaboration across the team in using the THERMOS tool.

Sint Niklaas, Belgium

The local government of Sint Niklaas, in conjunction with VITO, a technological research organisation, reached out to Act!onHeat for advice on identifying options for a heat network within the town. Experts from the support facility subsequently provided training on _THERMOS _and worked with the local authority and VITO staff in quantifying heat demands, identifying heat sources and developing network scenarios. Using THERMOS together with local data, the study provided heat demand estimations for buildings across the area. Heat sources included modelling of existing wastewater treatment works and a simulated solar thermal plant. Further investigations by the municipality will depend on sourcing more accurate data for the modelled heat sources and looking in more detail at fifth-generation heat networks, which utilise low-temperature heat distribution sourced typically from heat pumps served by ambient heat loops.

Vorarlberg, Austria

Energy agency Energieinstitut Vorarlberg explored the feasibility of establishing a heat network in a social housing development in the town of Bludenz, Austria. In preparation for analysis using the THERMOS tool, a range of potential future heat demands based on various levels of housing retrofit measures and building densities was calculated. Different scenarios of a settlement-wide heat supply by means of a heat network were then investigated. The heat supply sources considered were biomass, biomass combined heat and power (CHP) and large air source heat pumps together with day heat storage.

Aerial image of Vorarlberg Austria Bludenz, Austria. Source

Notably, the setting up of a heat supply of the social housing estate via a district heat network has been deemed feasible, even with a deep level of building retrofit.

Modelling results suggested that a heat network might be feasible, even considering the reduced heat demands expected to result from a deep level of building energy efficiency retrofit. Dr Richard Büchele, responsible for integrated strategic spatial energy planning at Energieinstitut Vorarlberg, reflects on the study: 

There are several housing estates across Vorarlberg such as those in Bludenz which contain older buildings with no access to the gas network and use conventional fuels such as oil, wood or direct electricity for heating. The THERMOS tool provided a useful way of exploring the potential for heat networks to offer alternative low-carbon low-cost heat supplies and I'm hopeful this can be replicated in other locations.

LEA-Hessen, Germany

Mandatory heat planning was introduced in the German state of Hessen last year. Here, LEA-Hessen provided consultancy to the state government, developing a consulting service for local authorities. This was supported by Act!onHeat_,_ and LEA-Hessen has made considerable progress together with a number of Hessian municipalities, including a permanent, regionally anchored service to provide effective advice to local authorities in the form of regular consultation hours, a heat atlas and a point person responsible for this topic, amongst other features.

Act!onHeat has provided support in some areas, where LEA-Hessen representatives have attended comprehensive workshops and targeted training webinars, as well as created a best practice body of material and benefitted from consulting with Act!onHeat experts. Notably, the findings and knowledge built in this case may be used by other energy agencies, thus multiplying the reach of this project.

MANU, North Macedonia

The Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU), an independent academic institution that provides support to municipalities on energy planning, plans to prepare a nationwide heat demand density map as well as identify potential district heating maps with a view to transforming the heating and cooling planning of multiple municipalities. This project is still in its infancy, but if successfully executed, it may be replicated across all 80 municipalities in North Macedonia, as well as in other countries in the region.

Two software tools that have been instrumental in some of these cases are Hotmaps and THERMOS, providing planners with low-threshold assistance. Hotmaps can be used to quickly determine initial orders of magnitude for the heating demand of municipalities and the potential of renewable energies and waste heat. THERMOS, on the other hand, is particularly suitable for planning district heating projects. The visualisation options for individual buildings are particularly helpful in the initial phase of a project to sketch out a plan very clearly, e.g., for the mayor. 

These projects have borne considerable fruit in the way of valuable insights and tangible support for stakeholders in the heating and cooling transition, setting a precedent for just and effective solutions that may be replicable across the region in the future.

Done reading? Make sure to share your own thoughts on the use of apps like THERMOS and HotMaps in greener transitions by leaving a comment below ⬇️

(Image credit: Unsplash)