Based on the general consensus that district heating is vital in the future Danish energy system
and should be expanded, this report carries out a case study investigating the area Danagården
north of Godthåb. This area is located within the municipality of Aalborg and thus the supply
area of Aalborg District Heating. The area is currently used for agricultural purposes but
is through the municipal district planning proposed converted into an urban area with lowenergy
houses.
The aim is to determine if there is a future for district heating as a heating technology in new
residential areas. This is done through a series of analysis investigating the legal and actor framework
for decisionmaking within heat planning.
To determine the key actors involved in the decision of heating installation in individual houses
a stakeholder analysis is conducted. Through this analysis the municipality, the district heating
company and the consumers are found to be themain actors in this decision making process.
Based on this a socio-economic, business-economic and consumer-economic analysis is carried
out. The socio-economic analysis reveals, that it is socio-economic beneficial to establish
district heating in the case area. From the business-economic analysis it is found, that the netpresent-
value of establishing the district heating system as low-temperature district heating
is greater than establishing it with traditional temperatures. Through the consumer-economic
analysis it is found that for the specific case investigated the individual consumers will benefit
from choosing district heating instead of individual heat pumps. However, it is also found that
these conclusions are all case dependent and cannot be easily generalised. It is therefore necessary
to investigate each individual case separately to determinewhich heating system would be
most beneficial for the identified key actors.
The calculations performed for all new houses in Denmark in order to establish if they fulfil
the energy requirements are also found to differ largely from the actual consumption measured.
This leads to misguiding information for the consumer when the heating system of the
house is to be chosen.