Getting 2.5 million existing homes connected to a sustainable heating network more quickly

They appear in all kinds and sizes. These are large-scale and small-scale heat network projects linked to sustainable heat sources, ranging from waste heat from industry to geothermal energy (heat from the ground). Together, these heat network projects contribute to making approximately 2 to 2.5 million existing homes more sustainable.

Practical advice and tools to support successful funding and implementation

Experience shows that heat network projects often do not get off the ground easily. There is still much uncertainty about which neighbourhoods and districts will switch off gas with the help of a heat network, and in what order. Additionally, the costs of sources, construction, and operation are not yet fully understood. The costs and financing of heat network projects are highly dependent on demand development, but a standardised approach for successful financing is still lacking. Invest-NL collaborates with initiators and financiers to find solutions for bottlenecks such as uncertainty about gas-free neighbourhoods, costs, and the route to financing, to concretely contribute to the heat transition.

District heating networks as a driver of the transition to fossil-free heat supply

Enabling the transition to a CO₂-neutral economy is Invest-NL's top priority. Heating homes and other buildings with sustainable sources plays an important role in this. It requires innovation, regional coordination, local entrepreneurship, and active involvement from many different parties across the entire heat chain. To accelerate this heat transition, Invest-NL has already financed several companies and projects.

Read more about what we do for the energy transition.

Rolling out heat networks faster; you only see it once you get the hang of it

The financing market for heat networks is relatively new and often the heat solutions are so innovative, and therefore risky, that scaling up and financing prove challenging. Gaining better insight into the complexity associated with successfully planning and designing a heat network is therefore of great importance, both for large and small-scale heat networks.

The deployment of the WarmingUP Design Toolkit fits in well here. This Toolkit is used as a collaboration platform for the comprehensive challenges of planning and designing heat networks. On one hand, it ensures proper alignment of local heat plans in neighbourhoods and districts with regional plans involving heat transportation. On the other hand, it involves coordinating the demand for heat and supply from different sources. Moreover, insulation and renovation of homes and heat storage also play a role! To bring all these together and work towards an integrated solution at the lowest national cost is a significant challenge. The WarmingUP Design Toolkit is specifically designed for this purpose, and TNO collaborates with Invest-NL, Deltares, EBN, RES Rotterdam/The Hague, Gasunie, and Province of South Holland on the INTEGRAAL project. The Toolkit is used there to reduce infrastructure costs for constructing a heat network and to make heat supply more cost-efficient. This way, both in the planning and design phase, and later in the operation phase, the financial risks of heat networks can be decreased.

Where Invest-NL makes a difference in this case

Invest-NL has played an active role in various projects to take the initial steps together with different market parties to concretely implement the heat transition, such as this Integral project, in which Invest-NL has contributed substantively.

Moreover, Invest-NL has developed a roadmap for small-scale heat network projects to achieve successful financing. This provides an overview of the different financiers and the steps needed to secure funding. It concerns conditions regarding the most promising legal structure, organisation and governance of the heat network, as well as the necessary contracts and business case development. The roadmap adopts an integrated view of a successful heat network. It relates to the source, infrastructure, and the delivery component of the heat project.

To facilitate the development and financing of sustainable heat networks, Invest-NL has interviewed various local initiators, financiers, and authorities who are active in the market for sustainable heat network projects. Insights gained into the concrete obstacles hindering financing have led to the development of knowledge and tools for structuring and standardising heat network projects. This helps to eliminate risks and uncertainties that cause bottlenecks in financing. This is of great importance, both for large and small-scale heat network projects.