Comparison of district heating expansion potential based on consumer-economy or socio-economy

Recent studies show that a high share of district heating is an important part of a future sustainable energy system or smart energy system with a high renewable energy penetration. These studies also show socio-economic benefits of expanding the district heating coverage. However, in order to implement such an expansion, district heating needs to be economically feasible for the heat consumers. This aspect is often not investigated and hence it is unknown if calculations based on consumer-economy, where tax payment is included, will yield the same potential of expansion. This study identifies the differences in the expansion potential of district heating calculated with a socio-economic and a consumer-economic approach, respectively, in a case study of Denmark. By also investigating the consumer-economy of expanding district heating, a deeper insight is obtained of possible locations for expanding district heating under the current framework conditions.