District heating in the Netherlands today: A techno-economic assessment for NGCC-CHP (Natural Gas Combined Cycle combined heat and power)

•Energy savings and the CO2 mitigation cost of district heat from NGCC-CHP (Natural Gas Combined Cycle combined heat and power) for Dutch dwellings are calculated.•Various methods are applied, including the method for calculating savings from the European CHP Directive.•The use of district heat of NGCC-CHP saves energy for Dutch dwellings, regardless of the method investigated.•From a social perspective, CO2 mitigation costs are acceptable for row dwellings at discount rates up to 4%.•From a private perspective, CO2 mitigation costs are negative for row dwellings at discount rates up to 10%.

Domestic heating represents the most dominant energy function in Dutch households nowadays. Using district heat from CHP (combined heat and power) by means of a NGCC (natural gas-fired combined cycle) plants is generally acknowledged as an effective option to reduce primary energy consumption for heating. However, methods to calculate energy savings from CHP differ widely. This paper compares a number of different methods, including the method from the EU CHP Directive, to estimate primary energy savings in comparison with the typically used domestic gas-fired condensing boiler. Real hourly CHP plant performance data is used. An estimation of the CO2 mitigation cost of delivering district heat to Dutch dwellings is made. We find that supplying dwellings with district heat from an NGCC-CHP saves energy, regardless of the calculation method and for a rather wide range of reference efficiencies. CO2 mitigation costs are acceptable from a social perspective (at discount rates up to 4%, excluding fuel taxes) and negative from a private perspective (at discount rates up to 10%, including fuel taxes).