After V's objection about the phasing out of gas boilers: :
"Now the Prime Minister must step into character"

Over the weekend, Troels Lund Poulsen announced that the Liberal Party is proposing to drop the agreement that gas boilers for general home heating should be phased out by 2035. In a press release, he wrote that he "will not help turn off the heat in over 100,000 homes in 2035, when the gas in the pipes is green at that time". 

This is a new development in an otherwise long saga, where both Dansk Fjernvarme and 13 mayors have repeatedly called for an end date for gas boilers for home heating. According to them, this hesitation in announcing a final end date has helped to confuse the Danes, and prevented them from joining district heating projects around the country. 

"It's appalling"

- It's very complicated to explain to citizens that the government won't stand by their own agreement, Kenneth Gøtterup (K,), mayor of Dragør, recently told DK Nyt about the missing date for the phasing out of gas boilers in Denmark.

But now there has been an announcement from the Liberal Party, and although there has been a lot of debate over the weekend, it is unclear what the Liberal Party's announcement means for the government's policy in the area.

- It's appalling that a government party is withdrawing support for a settlement that the government entered into in 2022 with the entire Folketinget. We were given a set task, which we have of course solved. If you drop it now, you have to talk about a compensation scheme for the municipalities' expenses, says Kenneth Gøtterup to DK Nyt.

But it is not primarily compensation that the mayor is calling for, but rather a clear statement.

- It was the prime minister who, at a press conference, set the municipalities on this task. Now the prime minister must step into character and tell what the government's policy is in this area. All these loose statements that are coming out only create confusion for the citizens, he says.

"Poor utilization of biogas"

The argument for abolishing the goal of phasing out gas boilers is that green biogas has by then displaced fossil natural gas, and that it will be disproportionately expensive for homeowners in remote areas to abolish the boiler, writes Ritzau.

However, it would be a poor use of biogas if it were to be used to create "lukewarm water" for radiators, says Brian Vad Mathiesen, professor of energy planning at Aalborg University, to the media.

Instead, biogas should be used for large and energy-intensive processes that cannot be electrified throughout Europe.

The climate effect will be reduced if biogas is used in gas boilers in Danish homes, it says.

- For every kilowatt of biogas that we can export to Europe, we save on imported natural gas. This has a very concrete physical climate effect, says the professor.

Not everyone can get district heating

Mette Landtved-Holm (V), mayor of Nordfuns Municipality, has previously been a co-signatory of a letter to the Minister for Climate, in which 13 mayors called for a date to be set for the phasing out of gas boilers. Still, she welcomes the change of direction from her party:

- We are in a situation where citizens live too widely for it to be worthwhile to get district heating to the areas we wanted. We have a lot of citizens where it is not possible because many do not have the 200,000 kroner needed to get on the district heating network, she tells DK Nyt.

Therefore, she is happy that citizens who cannot get district heating will not be forced to purchase a heat pump, which will also be a major expense for them.

- The announcement from Troels Lund Poulsen that biogas and other forms of gas can also be considered after 2035, I can easily see as something that North Funen will benefit from."

Mette Landtved-Holm can also easily see that in some municipalities it will be a stumbling block to the rollout of district heating, and acknowledges that it will be frustrating for municipalities where citizens live closer together and the price of connecting to district heating is not as high.