HOT|COOL NO. 1/2023 "AI & Digitalization"

Summary Today, the district heating system in Greater Copenhagen is characterized by heat production from large central produc- tion plants – three conventional CHP plants based on sustain- able biomass, three waste-to-energy plants, and peak and re- serve load units based on wood pellets, natural gas, and gas oil. Varmelast ensures that the total electricity and heat produc- tion in Greater Copenhagen area is optimized on an hourly basis, 24/7/365, so that the lowest total production costs are ensured for the benefit of the district heating customers. So, a concept – developed more than 100 years ago – remains viable in a world where competing heat producers deliver dis- trict heating into the same grid – competing with each other on costs.

In 2006, Amager CHP plant was sold off to the Swedish Vatten- fall. Out of consideration for the competitive situation of the power market between Ørsted (formerly named DONG) and Vattenfall, the producers could no longer perform the load dispatching for the heating and power production in the Co- penhagen metropolitan area on their own. Consequently, it was necessary to find a new solution to ensure the economic optimization of the production across the plants with different owners.

Facts about CTR • Founded in 1984 and owned by five municipalities in the eastern part of the Copenhagen area – Copenha- gen, Frederiksberg, Gentofte, Gladsaxe, and Tårnby. • Supplies local, municipally owned district heating companies in the five municipalities with heat – in- cluding HOFOR. The supplied heat corresponds to the consumption of 250,000 families. The heat is pur- chased primarily from the Amager CHP plant, owned by HOFOR Energiprocuktion and ARC's waste-to-en- ergy plant. • www.ctr.dk • VEKS owns Køge CHP plant, which produces electric- ity for the grid, steam for Junckers Industrier A/S, and sells (internally) district heating to VEKS Transmis- sion. It also owns a gas engine in Solrød, which pro- duces electricity for the grid and district heating for VEKS Transmission, based on biogas delivered from Solrød Biogas A/S. Køge District Heating Company handles the distribution of district heating to private consumers, business customers, and institutions in the city of Køge - Tranegilde District heating Com- pany handles the distribution of district heating to customers in the Tranegilde business area in the mu- nicipalities of Ishøj and Greve. For both Køge District Heating and Tranegilde District Heating, the heat is purchased internally from VEKS Transmission. • www.veks.dk Facts about VEKS • Founded in 1984 and owned by 12 municipalities in the western part of Greater Copenhagen and along Køge Bay. • VEKS Transmission supplies 19 local district heating companies with heat in Vestegnen. The supplied heat corresponds to the consumption of 170,000 families. The heat is purchased primarily from Avedøre CHP plant, owned by Ørsted, and from waste-to-energy plants owned by ARGO.

For further information please contact: Lars Gullev, lg@veks.dk

Facts about HOFOR • Founded in 1857 for the production and distribution of town gas. • Today, the multi-supply company with activities within the drinking water, wastewater, production and distribution of district heating and cooling, dis- tribution of town gas, and production of district heat- ing and electricity. • Owns Amager CHP plant, and from here, HOFOR Varme directly buys some of the heat the company must deliver to its end customers. CTR buys the re- maining part. • Has 1,000,000 water customers, 700,000 wastewater customers, 500,000 heating customers, 300,000 town gas customers, and 39 district cooling customers. • www.hofor.dk Facts about Vestforbrænding • Founded in 1970 and owned by 19 municipalities in Zealand, Denmark – supplies district heating to Her- lev, Ballerup, Lyngby-Taarbæk, Furesø, and Gladsaxe municipalities – as well as surplus heat to CTR and VEKS. • Denmark's largest waste-to-energy company and Northern Europe's largest waste-based district heat- ing producer handles waste for 900,000 citizens and 60,000 companies. • In 2021, Vestforbrænding converted almost 500,000 tonnes of waste into heat (1.26 million MWh) and electricity (199,000 MWh). • www.vestforbrænding.dk

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