BSRIA spots big growth for district heating
Market research by BSRIA has identified district heating as a major growth sector over the next few years, in Europe and the rest of the world.
The market for district energy (DE), including district heating and district cooling, has witnessed large growth in many countries in Europe in the last five years and significant growth in China.
The BSRIA District Energy study provides information for markets in China, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia and UK. The six European DE markets researched 2018 have a district heating and cooling (DHC) total installed capacity of slightly under 250,000 MWth and China has 750,000 MWth. The seven researched countries are projected to grow by almost 5% by 2030. Compared to district heating, district cooling will remain “rather small” in these markets.
The main drivers are that clients and designers are installing DE systems for their competitive advantage and financial benefits. If there is sufficient demand and the projected income makes a project profitable, then it is worthwhile to take the necessary steps to create or upgrade a network.
Socrates Christidis, research manager for heating and renewables at BSRIA’s World Market Intelligence Division, says: “Closely related to the progress of DE networks and the growing popularity of communal heating systems is the growth of central transfer stations and heat interface units… Overall, there is a healthy growth for HIUs on a pan-European basis of 6% to 7%.”
