Danish district heating expertise met French ambitions as DBDH and the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris brought together industry experts, utilities, and decision-makers in Toulouse on 3–4 November 2026. Two days of technical exchange, site visits, and networking highlighted opportunities to accelerate the development of sustainable district heating and cooling in France.
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France is stepping up its efforts to decarbonise heating, and district heating is playing an increasingly important role in the country’s energy transition. For Danish companies, this growing market presents significant opportunities to contribute technologies, experience, and solutions.
Building on the strengthened energy cooperation between Denmark and France following the Danish State Visit in 2025, DBDH and the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris organised the French-Danish District Heating and Cooling Days in Toulouse.
The event brought Danish and French stakeholders together to exchange knowledge, explore technological solutions, and strengthen connections between the two countries’ district heating sectors.
Toulouse: A city with ambitious district heating plans
Toulouse is already making considerable progress in developing sustainable heating and cooling infrastructure.
The metropolitan area operates three district heating and cooling networks, with another under development. These networks draw on a diversified energy mix, including waste-to-energy, biomass, geothermal energy, and recovered heat from data centres.
This makes Toulouse a particularly relevant location for exploring how Danish experience can contribute to expanding and optimising French district heating systems.
From Danish experience to French opportunities
The first day focused on practical solutions and knowledge exchange, with presentations and workshops addressing key challenges in developing efficient and sustainable heating and cooling networks.
Discussions covered three main themes:
Diversifying renewable and recovered energy sources
Participants explored how biomass, geothermal energy, solar thermal energy, and seasonal storage can support a more sustainable and resilient heat supply.
Electrification of district heating
Danish experience with electric boilers and large-scale heat pumps provided valuable perspectives on integrating district heating into an increasingly renewable electricity system.
Improving network efficiency
Lower operating temperatures, reduced heat losses, intelligent monitoring, and advanced network control were central topics, demonstrating how Danish technologies can help improve the performance of existing and future networks.
Danish organisations and companies contributing to the programme included Kredsløb, Linka Energy, Isoplus, Fenagy, Grundfos, Solid Energy, Kamstrup, the Danish Energy Agency, and DBDH.
Together, they represented a broad range of Danish district heating competencies, from energy production and system integration to efficient distribution and digital solutions.
Seeing district heating and cooling in action
On the second day, participants explored local energy infrastructure through two technical site visits.
The first visit focused on absorption chillers in the Mirail network in Toulouse’s Cartoucherie neighbourhood, providing insights into district cooling technology.
The delegation also visited geothermal drilling activities associated with the future Matabiau–Quai d’Oc network, highlighting the role geothermal energy can play in developing new low-carbon district heating infrastructure.
These visits connected the technical discussions with actual projects and demonstrated opportunities for knowledge exchange between Danish solution providers and French stakeholders.
Strengthening partnerships for the future
Beyond the technical programme, the visit provided an important platform for direct dialogue between Danish companies and French authorities, utilities, and industry representatives.
Such cooperation is essential for translating ambitious energy and climate objectives into concrete district heating projects.
For DBDH, the visit reflects our continued commitment to connecting Danish district heating expertise with international markets and supporting the development of efficient, sustainable, and integrated district energy systems.
DBDH thanks the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris, Toulouse Métropole, all speakers, participating companies, and French partners for contributing to two days of valuable knowledge exchange and dialogue.
Together, we are strengthening the foundations for future French-Danish cooperation in district heating and cooling.
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