Upgrade DH

The Upgrade DH project supported the upgrading and retrofitting process of DH systems in different climate regions of Europe, covering various countries. In each of the target countries, the upgrading process was initiated at concrete DH systems of the so called Upgrade DH demonstration cases (demo cases). The gained knowledge and experiences were replicated to other European countries and DH systems in order to leverage the impact.

Core activities of the Upgrade DH project included the collection of the best upgrading measures, the support of the upgrading process for selected district heating networks, the organisation of capacity building measures about DH upgrading, financing and business models. One of the core outcomes was the development of national and regional action plans for retrofitting district heating networks by including the results of the retrofitting approaches. In addition, public webinars, knowledge sharing expert workshops and an image raising campaign for modern DH networks were carried out in the Upgrade DH project. 

Upgrade DH supported knowledge development of different demonstration cases with both a very high standard, but still a high potential for uptake of renewable energies and energy efficiency and countries that have a huge potential for upgrading district heating networks and a rather small growth in renewable energy production. Upgrade DH project involved stakeholders in charge of city networks, DH companies, managers of buildings blocks, housing associations and other building owners/managers and end consumers.

The Upgrade DH project launched, implemented and tested the upgrading process up to the implementation phase (investment stage). Since successful examples are the best way to impulse replication, the objective of Upgrade DH project was to launch, implement and test the upgrading process in eight concrete demo cases in different European countries: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, and The Netherlands. As lighthouse projects, these cases served for dissemination and triggered replication. 

The main idea was to facilitate the upgrading process of district heating networks in the eight target countries through a multiple set of successful approaches of diagnosing and retrofitting inefficient networks, including sustainable business and organisational models. It is expected that the initiation of new projects in the target countries and accompanying activities at national level will contribute to implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy policies, regulations and legislations in the target countries. The direct involvement of key actors of the addressed district heating systems (demo cases) ensured the impact of the Upgrade DH project beyond the lifetime of the project. 

See the EU factsheet for more information on this project.