The SET_HEAT project aims to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonization of district heating (DH) in four targeted Eastern European countries through the integration of low-grade heat sources in high-temperature DH networks.

The project addresses the following challenges:

1. mobilisation of DH companies in EU member states for planning activities focused on strategic development and modernisation, reconfiguration, and decarbonisation of their systems taking into consideration distributed low-grade renewable and waste heat sources.
2. stakeholder outreach and creation of sustainable local ecosystems, and collaborative networks to face dynamically changing business environment and disruptions of business-as-usual approaches.

The main goal of the project is to trigger:

1. strategic investment programmes of DH companies in Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania,
2. tangible projects in the field of integration of low-grade renewable energy and waste heat into high-temperature heating networks.

The central idea of the project is to directly engage DH companies and relevant local and global stakeholders in a collaborative planning process, which aims at sharing knowledge, overcoming barriers, developing strategic investment plans and creating ideas for effective energy transition of existing centralised high-temperature district heating networks into smart and decarbonised systems with multiple fossil-fuel-free sources of heat.

The SET_HEAT project is focused on strategic planning. The action is supposed to deliver data for decision-makers to make informed decisions related to the planning and implementation of investment projects. In many aspects, the SET_HEAT project is a unique action.

To address current energy, climate and market challenges district heating (DH) sector must progress in changing current practices and regarding both the development of technical infrastructure and business models. New technical and non-technical concepts based on already demonstrated good practice examples, should be developed and widely adopted by DH companies. Those should be based on the decoupling of heat production from consumption of fossil fuels, renewable and waste energy harvesting, use of distributed resources and distributed generation.

Successful implementation of the SET_HEAT project requires rethinking of district heating, raising awareness, engaging external stakeholders, generating innovative ideas and approaches, building inventories of new sources of heat, implementing new technologies, and using advanced tools for operations planning.

Key project features

• Direct involvement of DH companies and relevant stakeholders in a collaborative planning process
• Mobilization of stakeholders
• Generating and sharing ideas
• Transfer of knowledge from numerous previous EU and national projects
• Filling knowledge gaps
• Developing necessary skills and competencies
• Establishing local ecosystems of DH companies in the future energy market
• Collaborative development of technical and non-technical solutions
• Pre-feasibility studies
• Joint development of replicable model investment projects
• Creating strategic development plans for DH companies

Key project data

• Intended geographical scope: 5 EU Member States
• Number of partners: 12
• Duration: 36 months (01/10/2023 – 30/09/2026)
• Total eligible costs: EUR 1,555,915.89
• Max grant amount: EUR 1,468,120.09
• Number of work packages: 8
• Number of specific tasks: 40
• Number of deliverables: 79

Main goal

The overall objective of the project is to trigger:

1. Strategic investment programmes of DH companies in Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania,
2. Tangible projects in the field of integration of low-grade renewable energy and waste heat into high-temperature heating networks.

The project’s consortium comprises four DH companies from Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, which currently operate high-temperature networks, two engineering companies, five universities, and one national board of district heating. The number of DH systems directly involved in the project (owned by project consortium partners) is 20.

The investment plans will address phasing out fossil fuels and the fulfillment by the DH companies directly involved in the project consortium, the criteria of efficient district heating and cooling system as defined in the Directive (EU) 2023/1791 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 for the period from 2028 to 2034, and pave the way for further developments.

In particular, the project focuses on significantly reducing the current consumption of fossil fuels and biomass for heat production.

It is also taken into consideration the scenario that district heating companies will support the global energy transition by integrating sectors and adopting electricity storage technologies, including Power-to-X solutions.

Overall, the project will assess the functioning of DH companies in the future energy market. The roughly assessed value of the investment programs to be triggered is € 800 million.

Specific objectives

1. To equip 4 DH companies from Eastern EU member states with investment plans focused on the implementation of combustionless technologies and integration of low-grade renewable energy and waste heat into their DH networks.
2. To mobilise and engage key local stakeholders, which are of key importance for the successful development and implementation of the investment plans.
3. To build the capacity of DH companies to accelerate the roll-out of investment projects, use opportunities and apply for funding in different national and European Programmes.
4. To transfer knowledge and know-how from previous research and development projects to DH companies and provide them with appropriate training focused on the development of relevant skills.
5. To develop guidance, recommendations and scalable replicable technical and non-technical solutions (including 6 replicable model investment projects in tangible assets), which can be adopted by other district heating companies (not directly participating).
6. To develop relevant investment assessment tools
7. To recommend relevant changes in the legislative framework in target countries.
8. To define local business ecosystems of DH companies in the energy market, and foster cooperation across sectors and collaborative system planning.
9. To stimulate a wider range of energy transition and decarbonisation in the sector through uptake of project outputs by DH companies, which do not directly participate in the project, the project’s outcomes and impacts through extensive dissemination and communication activities.

Clean Energy Transition KPIs

The project's ambition is to reach the following target values 5 years beyond Project-End:

• Triggered Primary Energy Savings: 1,075 GWh/year
• Triggered Final Energy Savings: 901 GWh/year
• Triggered Renewable Energy generation: 269 GWh/year
• Triggered CO₂ equivalent emissions reduction: 276,726 tCO₂Eq/year
• Triggered cumulative investments in sustainable energy: MEUR 368
• Triggered real life implementation sites: 15
• Number of stakeholders reached through media and events: during 1000 / after 200

Expected impacts

• Number of district heating systems equipped with an investment plan allowing them to fulfill the proposed criteria for ‘efficient district heating and cooling’: 15
• Number of market stakeholders with increased capacity to implement the investment plans for the integration of low-grade heat sources or waste heat: 20
• Number of local and regional authorities integrating the outcomes of the project in their energy planning:15
• Investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro): 368
• Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year): 1075
• Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year): 269
• Amount of energy generated from low-grade heat sources triggered by the project (in GWh/year): 901

Milestones

Work plan

The project consists of 8 work packages and 40 specific tasks, which will be implemented in four key phases: preparatory, learning and capacity building phase, collaborative development phase, internal implementation phase, and external replication phase.

The project features tailored activities focusing on filling knowledge gaps, developing necessary skills and competencies, identifying opportunities and possibilities, designing replicable technical and non-technical solutions as well as extensive communication, dissemination and exploitation.

The project partners and key stakeholders will jointly develop solutions not only for the companies directly involved but also for external DH companies and the sector. The project will support external companies by delivering outputs such as examples of scalable and replicable solutions, and model investment projects.

Specific tasks

• WP1. Data collection and identification of possibilities
  • T.1.1. Audits and inventories of target DH systems addressed with interventions
  • T.1.2. Mapping of available heat sources and identification of key stakeholders
  • T.1.3. Identification and assessment of future opportunities
  • T.1.4. Analysis of technology availability
  • T.1.5. Identification of local needs and challenges of low-grade heat uptake
• WP2. Transfer of knowledge and mobilisation of stakeholders
  • T.2.1. Internal knowledge transfer workshops
  • T.2.2. Study tours
  • T.2.3. Establishing a collaborative network of stakeholders
  • T.2.4. Elaboration of standardized approach and methodology for planning and development of investment projects
• WP3. Definition of potential investment projects and technical feasibility assessment
  • T.3.1. Analysis of options and definition of replicable investment projects
  • T.3.2. Technical pre-design of integrations and feasibility assessment
  • T.3.3. DH network performance assessment
  • T.3.4. Technical risk assessment
• WP4. Legal, environmental and socio-economic studies
  • T.4.1. Environmental impact assessment
  • T.4.2. Assessment of legal framework in target countries
  • T.4.3. Assessment of market barriers in target countries
  • T.4.4. Socio-economic studies
  • T.4.5. Legal, environmental, and socio-economic risk assessment
• WP5. Business models and financial studies
  • T.5.1. Studies on business models
  • T.5.2. Development of initial financing plans
  • T.5.3. Financial analysis
  • T.5.4. Business and financial risk assessment
• WP6. Sustainability, replication, and exploitation of project results
  • T.6.1. Internal replication of model investment projects and definition of final investment plans
  • T.6.2. Identification of barriers and implementation risk assessment
  • T.6.3. Development of integrated project assessment tool for replication
  • T.6.4. Final exploitation plan for consortium partners and external stakeholders
  • T.6.5. Impact monitoring, evaluation and reporting
  • T.6.6. Sustainability plan for the SET_HEAT project
• WP7. Communication and dissemination
  • T.7.1. Final dissemination and communication strategy and plan
  • T.7.2. Establishing web page and services
  • T.7.3. Production of communication and dissemination materials
  • T.7.4. Training workshops for stakeholders
  • T.7.5. Dissemination activities
  • T.7.6. Communication activities
• WP8. Project coordination and management
  • T.8.1. Day-to-day management, monitoring of workflow and reporting
  • T.8.2. Project meetings
  • T.8.3. General assembly and Advisory Board meetings
  • T.8.4. Risk management and monitoring trajectory towards the impacts
  • T.8.5. IPR and innovation management
  • T.8.6. Quality assessment