for 100% LTDH in Albertslund by January 2026. The social housing areas, covering more than 50% of the housing stock, were thoroughly energy refurbished with support from the National Building Fund of Denmark. In 10 years' time, half of the homes of Albertslund would be low-energy buildings with no need for high DH temperatures. Should we continue with two grids – one for high temperatures and one for LTDH? Or should we try to go for 100% LTDH? We chose LTDH, and we informed all building owners two times by mail: Be ready for lower temperatures by 2026”, explains Catarina Nørgaard Marcus-Møller, head of the district heating utility of Albertslund. A long-term strategy for lowering the temperatures How to get started? Albertslund Utility created an action plan to fulfill the DH strategy. Initially, there was a lot of focus on energy consulting and guiding the end users. Energy refurbishment concepts were created for privately owned terraced houses. However, it took a lot of effort, and the results were limited. Things simply went too slow. The next step was changing all the heat meters to intelligent meters, which provided the utility with a lot of data to analyze. Then, a new service was started, where the end users could
Low-temperature district heating (LTDH) has been in operation for several years in Denmark. Also, in Albertslund, newly built and energy-refurbished housing areas have been supplied with LTDH for the last 15 years. LTDH significantly reduces heat loss and improves the opportunities for exploiting local renewable energy sources, such as industrial surplus heat or geothermal energy. Albertslund is a town located 15 km west of Copenhagen with around 30,000 inhabitants. Most of the town was built in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in recent years, urban development has been happening in three major areas of Albertslund. The goal is 45,000 inhabitants by 2045. Despite all the new buildings being built, the main concern for the utility has been how to lower the DH temperature for the existing buildings. When new housing areas in Albertslund were built or when housing areas were energy refurbished, the DH temperature was lowered. It happened with a shunt valve, supplying LTDH to the specific area while higher temperatures were still supplied to the rest of the town. The number of LTDH areas grew.
”In 2016, the municipality of Albertslund agreed on a strategy
15 www.dbdh.dk
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