On the 9th of October, the “Decarbonising DHC: Planning investments to decarbonise district heating and cooling networks” workshop took place at the Sustainable Places Conference, in Milan, Italy. The event was a partnership between 5 members of the DH Synergy Hub cluster; besides ENABLE DHC, SUPPORTDHC, DHC SwEEtch, Low2HighDH, and Green Heat Life also participated in the event.

Represented by Stefano Morgione, project manager and team leader at OPTIT, the workshop delved into the main challenges of decarbonising existing networks and presented effective strategies for delivering viable, bankable renovation plans. Two of the main challenges identified by the speakers and discussed during the session were the “rolling horizon” of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) criteria and how to adapt to an ever-growing level of strictness of the legislation, and the challenges arising from disconnections and connections in DHC systems.

The event was a great opportunity to share ideas and approaches being adopted in each project to face these challenges. The knowledge-sharing efforts were further enhanced by a roundtable session after the projects’ presentations, with the audience’s participation.

Three pilot cases from the ENABLEDHC project — Acqui Terme, Wien, and Weiz-Gleisdorf — were presented during the recent workshop, each highlighting distinct profiles, challenges, and opportunities within the project’s broad scope of work. In Acqui Terme, efforts focus on optimising existing district heating assets and increasing the share of renewable energy sources. This work is being supported by a Digital Twin tool, which enables advanced system analysis and optimisation. In Wien, the team is assessing different decarbonisation pathways through online simulations. Given the scale and complexity of Vienna’s network, detailed studies are crucial to ensure both efficiency and fuel availability in the transition towards a low-carbon system.

You can watch the full workshop recording here: https://bit.ly/DHSHworkshop

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