To decarbonise a city now and in the future, district heating networks are an efficient tool. However, to deploy a district heating and cooling at a massive scale is a difficult task that needs careful planning. This guide aims to give advice on how to create a transition roadmap toward efficient district heating and cooling, which is the first and necessary step in the development of a low carbon energy solution.
Each stage of the process is described and illustrated with numerous examples, most of them from the pilots of HeatNet North-West Europe. This document can help local municipalities that already possess a district heating and cooling network to improve it but it can also help local municipalities that plan to create one from scratch. It provides advice specific to 4th generation district heating and cooling for local municipalities eager to implement it. The work is mostly based on the experiences from the HeatNet NWE pilots and from two French guides on how to create a new district heating network1 and how to masterplan a District Heating and Cooling.
