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They interviewed each city thoroughly to understand what they found essential for carrying out a successful project. First, the DH company or the operator of the DH system was interviewed, followed by the relevant person at the municipal organization who was involved in the planning and approval process. They made both a written questionnaire and a live interview. In addition, they conducted desk research on the eight countries to provide context to the best practices concerning energy policy and support mechanisms for DH. 

They then distilled the outcome of all these interviews into a series of best practices through a scoring system. The more often a best practice is mentioned, the more important it is. Many of the best practices were uniform across the different parameters (geography, experience, etc.). They would be relevant to a vast majority of cities looking into making a new DH network. 

They concluded that the list of best practices could be used as a checklist for planners to identify a series of checkpoints that are important to be aware of. After finishing the report, they made a podcast and webinar, where the results were discussed in detail (see text boxes). 

25 best practices

The list of best practices is long – we identified 16 best practices for planning and 9 for construction. Again, the mere fact that nearly twice as many best practices on planning were identified compared to best practices on construction indicates that proper planning is the one factor that can make a district heating successful. 

Many of the best practices are not very surprising. They all confirm and elaborate on what many would know and understand as standard practice. The stronghold here is two-fold. First, this report brings these best practices together and confirms them. Secondly, the best practices are now presented in a structured, documented, and commented form ready to use as a checklist. Some best practices do not apply to everyone, but just the option of removing things from your list was mentioned by several as a great advantage. This advantage will instill trust in both the planning and the construction phase for both experienced and future practitioners in the planning and construction of district heating networks.