EU Tracker – Local heating and cooling plans in Denmark
Summary
What is the status of the transposition of Art 25.6(EDD) and its implementation ?
Denmark is ready for the new EED recast, which will mainly add the requirement to plan cooling needs. Support received can be slightly improved
All Danish municipalities must perform heat planning since 1979 and the very large majority In Denmark, local heat planning concerns both gas and district heating distribution infrastructures allowing consistency of heat supply. Cooling planning is not part of the obligation and is not commonly performed by local authorities. A better integrated planning of heat, gas and power sectors could be developed by the engagement of power grid operators and the development of an overarching energy and climate planning framework for local authorities. Improvements of the support framework could include financial support for municipalities with less resources and a stricter focus on the decarbonisation of heating (as the legislation has historically focused on the security of supply).
Detailed assessment
The legal framework and the obligations
Heat planning is mandatory for all Danish municipalities and is based on long-lasting and consistent national legislations
Overview of the legal frameworks per governance level
| National | The first Danish Heat Supply Act was signed in 1979, because of the oil crises of the 70’s. It tasks all municipalities to perform energy planning and develop collective heat supply systems, including district heating infrastructures and distribution networks of natural gas. This Act focuses on the promotion of most economical and environmentally friendly use of energy for the heating of buildings and the supply of hot water, to reduce energy supply dependency on fossil fuels. This legislation defines at which conditions municipalities can perform heat supply activities, which are considered as a not-for-profit public service. For instance, municipalities can borrow capital at almost no costs to utilities in charge of heat supply operations. The implementation of the Heat Supply Act is overseen by the Danish Energy Agency. There is no obligation to perform cooling planning for local authorities, neither to develop energy and climate action plans. |
| Regional | Although they are no obligation to perform heat planning for regional authorities, there are coordination forums at regional level, which gather the different stakeholders to coordinate the priority of the delivery of the municipal heat projects. These platforms include the regional operators of transmission district networks. |
| Local | Municipal councils are responsible of developing Heat Supply Plans, in cooperation with utility companies and other affected parties. They approve the establishment of new collective heat supply systems or the execution of major changes in existing systems. They ensure that the heat supply planning is coordinated in relation to the Planning Act and other legislations, such as the Building Act and the Environmental Protection Act. There is no legal obligation to renew heat supply plans at a certain frequency. |
Content of local heating and cooling plans according to the law
Municipal heating plans oversee the definition of areas where collective heat supply can be deployed, either as district heating or natural gas. Both systems are not allowed to coexist in the same area. They must also define and assess most economic projects to provide heat via collective heat systems, from a societal point of view, i.e. based on socio-economic considerations. City councils can decide about compulsory connection to district heating for existing and new buildings in the collective heat supply areas and exclude some heating systems in existing or new buildings. It allows municipalities to provide long-term vision of the energy systems and ensure economic viability.
The support framework
An overarching favourable framework available to local authorities, with minor points of improvements
Danish municipalities benefit from an important technical support, from various regional and national actors, to perform heat planning. The process is well established for decades, and relevant actors are engaged. Financial resources are available from time to time from the national government, and access to data is facilitated by the law. However, a dedicated financial and human resource support is lacking for the smallest municipalities.
Provided Support
| Technical and organisational | 5/5 | The Danish Energy Agency has since 1979 provided procedures and methodologies to support and guide municipalities in developing H&C plans. It provides methods for socio-economic calculations (such as net present value), references (such as catalogue of costs) and baseline scenarios upon which local practitioners are to base energy investment decisions. Following the gas crisis in 2022, the Danish Energy Agency changed the socio-economic references to favour natural gas phase-out and evaluation of pools of projects at district level, instead of an evaluation project per project. Some local actors regretted the lack of evolution of the previous guidelines, which favoured security of supply more than decarbonisation of the district heating systems. Most municipalities perform heat planning with the district heating companies and gas companies or delegate it to them. They can also get the support of KL (the Danish association of municipalities) and the Danish district heating association. Since 2019, the 98 Danish municipalities voluntarily joined the program DK2020 to develop climate action plans. This program is developed with KL, the Danish Regions and Realdania (a philanthropy organisation); it provides technical support and working groups to local authorities. |
| Financial | 3/5 | There is no long-term and dedicated financial support for local authorities to support heat planning. This must be financed by municipalities’ own budgets. However, the Danish Energy Agency launches dedicated program from time to time with available funding, usually to pay for consultancy services or for projects’ implementation. This was the case with the program Strategic Energy Planning from 2013 to 2015, which developed 14 partnerships and pilot projects, involving almost all municipalities, for a total amount of 25 million DKK (1.3 M€). |
| Staff & skills | 4/5 | Most of municipalities have dedicated and skilled employees to perform heat planning, often working with the local utilities. However, as there is no obligation for frequent renewal of heat plans and no constant financial support, smaller municipalities often face difficulties to keep dedicated human resources for this task. The gas crisis of 2022 and the demand from the Danish Energy Agency to renew heat plans revealed the lack of staff and competences for municipalities with less resources. |
| Access to data | 4/5 | Access to data is simplified thanks to the Heat Supply Act, which request producers and suppliers of energy, as well as consumers, to provide necessary data for heat planning to municipalities. It is at least possible to access yearly data at district level easily (see for instance the Danish Energy Atlas). Local authorities can also get data regarding buildings, their heating systems, and energy infrastructures via the national database Plandata.dk in which homeowners need to provide energy-related information. In addition, data regarding renewable and low carbon heat potentials are produced thanks to studies supported by the Danish Energy Agency. |
