The pipeline from European Energy's Kassø PtX plant is only about a kilometer away from being connected to the district heating network. When that happens, a piece of Danish district heating history will be written in Southern Jutland, and there are significant advantages to using surplus heat, says Dansk Fjernvarme's director, Kim Mortensen.
- It is a good and healthy project with two professional parties. There are several projects on the drawing board involving PtX and district heating. The larger projects, such as the one in Esbjerg, will probably attract more attention. But it is important that we start now so that we can gather experience before the larger plants become a reality, says Kim Mortensen, adding:
- It is causing a stir among the district heating companies. We would like to see more projects of this type.
There is great potential for utilizing surplus heat, which has not yet been fully realized. According to Kim Mortensen, this is due to a price cap on electricity for district heating production. Electricity is needed to operate heat pumps that heat the surplus heat to the approx. 80 degrees, which is necessary in the district heating network.
Potential and legislation
The legislation must ensure that district heating customers do not pay too high prices for electricity.
- The price cap is actually an obstacle to more projects of this type. And it would in any case lead to cheaper district heating for consumers on an annual basis without the price cap, explains Kim Mortensen about the negotiations taking place in the Folketing right now.
It is not only the large, future GW PtX plants that offer opportunities to utilize surplus heat.
- There are great opportunities in the country with data centers, transformer stations and industrial plants that are not currently being utilized. There are great prospects in this, as up to 25 percent of the almost two million households with district heating could already be heated with this surplus heat today, says Kim Mortensen.
This number may increase in the future when the large PtX plants are put into use and the district heating network is expanded to cover even more households.
- What is preventing more projects with surplus heat right now is the price cap, points out Kim Mortensen.
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