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Danish District Heating Association/Dansk Fjernvarme

DDHA

Danish District Heating Association (DDHA) was founded in 1957 to promote the interests of the Danish district heating utilities and to facilitate cooperation between members.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU emissions trading system for maritime, aviation and stationary installations, and market stability reserve - review

7 Jul 2025

The Danish District Heating Association (DDHA) would like to thank the Commission for the opportunity to comment on the EU ETS post-2030 public consultation focusing on evaluation of the EU ETS and impact assessment of whether additional policies are needed in the EU ETS to reach the EU climate targets. Heating and cooling account for half of the EUs total energy consumption. Today, the majority of heating and cooling in the EU is still generated from fossil fuels, and almost all waste heat generated across the EU remains unused. The DDHA represents around 350 companies in the Danish district heating sector ranging from production of district heating to transmission and distribution companies. Nearly 2 million households (68 pct.) are supplied with district heating by DDHAs members, covering around half of the Danish demand for space heating in all buildings. District heating can be connected to all forms of heat production. Currently, district heating is produced from sources which includes woody biomass, straw, wind, solar heating, geothermal energy, natural gas, oil, coal and surplus heat from industry and waste incineration. The DDHA also represents a large volume of carbon capture and carbon removal potential through capture of CO2 from the biomass combined heat and power (CHP) plants and waste incinerating facilities in Denmark. The Danish Energy Agency has estimated the possible capture potential in 2040 in Denmark at 5.4-10.8 million tonnes of CO2 per year, of which more than half of the potential (2.9-5.9 tonnes of CO2 per year) comes from waste incinerators and biomass CHPs. General remarks The members of DDHA are on a large scale included in the EU ETS. It is DDHAs understanding that the administrative burden of the EU ETS imposed on the member states and the companies included in the EU ETS is considerable. The process of verification of data as well as the administrative burden of reporting several different reports and formulars constitute a very time-consuming task for the members of the DDHA. Therefore, the DDHA encourages the Commission to have a focus on how to reduce the administrative burdens of the member states and the companies involved in the EU ETS going forward.
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Meeting with Sigrid Friis (Member of the European Parliament) and Green Power Denmark

6 Nov 2024 · Upcoming term and energy

Meeting with Morten Petersen (Member of the European Parliament)

11 Apr 2024 · District heating and the EU

Meeting with Ditte Juul-Joergensen (Director-General Energy)

11 Apr 2024 · Energy market

Meeting with Niels Fuglsang (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Jan 2024 · Energieffektivisering

Meeting with Morten Petersen (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur) and Cleantech for Europe and

12 Oct 2023 · Ongoing Parliamentary work related to Geothermal

Meeting with Ditte Juul-Joergensen (Director-General Energy) and Ørsted A/S and

6 Oct 2023 · Energy Transition

Response to Guidance on REDII forest biomass sustainability criteria

28 Apr 2021

Danish District Heating Association and Danish Energy, representing the Danish energy sector, acknowledges the importance of the guidance to enable robust and harmonised implementation of the new sustainability criteria for forest biomass by member states and economic operators. This will ensure that the forest biomass, used for efficient district heat and power production, meets a high standard of sustainability considerations while maintaining the legal certainty required for the development of new projects. General comments Given the delay in the publication of the present implementing regulation, Danish district heating Association and Danish Energy calls for a fast adoption, as well as a fast process for the recognition of certification schemes to guarantee that sufficient tools are in place to demonstrate compliance for district heating and power operators. Please see detailed comments in document attached.
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Response to Strategy for smart sector integration

8 Jun 2020

The Danish district heating sector fully supports the national Danish climate target established in December 2019, when 8 out of the 10 parties in the Danish Parliament agreed on a national Climate Act with a legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030 (compared to the 1990 level). Well beyond EU targets. The sector also fully supports the aim, established with broad political agreement in 2018, of having a Danish heating sector in 2030 at least 90 % free of fossil fuels. The Danish district heating sector itself aims at being 100 % carbon neutral in 2030. These ambitious targets for both the whole heating sector and for district heating (DH) are achievable. This is due to the flexibility provided to the heating sector by the widespread use of district heating. Almost two-thirds of all homes in the country are supplied with energy for space heating and hot tap water preparation from district heating. 15 % are supplied by natural gas and the remaining rely on oil, heat pumps, direct electric heating etc. Energy sector integration is nothing new in the Danish energy sector. Integration of heat and electricity through the intensive use of combined heat and power plants (CHP), some also using some natural gas, was the cornerstone of heat and thermal power production, until wind based electricity production started playing a major role. Further deepening of the integration of the sectors happened when the DH-sector increasingly used their CHP-units to balance intermittent RE-electricity production. The development in Denmark shows that sector integration represents a quick and efficient path for the EU to accelerate its decarbonisation efforts. It is key for the energy transition to tap into Europe’s – so far – under-exploited potential for sector integration. The concept of smart energy sector integration should be understood and applied in its broadest sense, going well beyond the narrow duality of electricity and gas coupling. Exploiting the synergies between renewables, energy carriers, infrastructures, buildings, transport and industry sectors will be instrumental in bringing this necessary flexibility, as well as ensuring the stability and reliability of grids.Danish District Heating Association (DDHA) calls on the European Commission to consider the following elements in the EU strategy on energy sector integration: 1. Acknowledge that the district heating and cooling sector has a pivotal role to play in enabling energy sector integration District heating and cooling (DHC) is a proven solution for the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector and the energy system as a whole. It delivers energy efficiency (through the use of CHP and recovery of waste heat). It facilitates the integration and storage of intermittent renewable electricity and gas and provides a link between a wide range of local sources of heat or cold and the buildings in which they are needed, particularly in cities. 2. The concept of sector integration must be mainstreamed into policy, infrastructure planning and financing. District heating networks are already enabling sector integration, creating a linkage between parts of the system. Investment policies and funding instruments for EU infrastructure need to reflect the concept of sector integration and fully address the development of DHC networks. 3. Apply the district approach to energy sector integration & engage local actors A district approach should be applied in sector integration to identify potential synergies that can emerge on the local energy market among heat, electricity and gas production. In order to facilitate this, the national obligations under article 14 of the EED should be applied at local level as well in order to fully integrate the energy system. 4. Finally, we support a uniform CO2 price across the heating sector to ensure a level-playing field and drive the decarbonisation of the entire heating and cooling sector
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