Scope A: Technical support for the development of investment plans for the modernisation, fuel switch and system integration of existing district heating systems
Proposals should work with operators/owners of existing district heating systems and provide them with the required technical support for the preparation of investment plans to fulfil the criteria for ‘efficient district heating and cooling’ as defined in the revised Energy Efficiency Directive.

The focus should be on identifying concrete ways to modernise the systems and to integrate low-temperature renewable energy or waste heat (the latter defined in the Renewable Energy Directive). However, the transformation into low-temperature of the district heating networks is not compulsory and other feasible approaches enabling the fuel switch to low-temperature renewable energy or waste heat are possible.

The investment plans should include the detailed identification of the investments, their timing, the internal and external resources required, the public and private funding sources, in particular for the first tranches of investments and the potential identification of alternative funding sources and models. The investment plans to be produced should enable the targeted district heating system to fulfil the criteria for “efficient district heating and cooling” as proposed for the Energy Efficiency Directive Recast within in a timeline of 10 years.

Activities should include, among others, financial planning and pre-feasibility studies including, where relevant, the assessment of the compatibility with the existing building stock and options to link district heating retrofitting to local building renovation plans.

Additionally, proposals should clearly demonstrate the interest/commitment of the district heating operators receiving support, and explain the content of the support to be provided and how the consortium will deliver this support on the ground. Proposals should promote replication by other district heating operators/owners.

Scope B: Skills development of professionals, operators and public authorities
Proposals should strengthen the capacity of targeted professionals across the district heating and cooling value chain (including white collar workers) and/or civil servants in national, regional and local authorities.
In particular, proposals should provide the technical and practical knowledge required to:

• develop new district heating and/or cooling systems based on low-temperature renewable energy sources and waste heat; and/or
• modernise and integrate low-grade renewable energy and waste heat sources into existing systems; and
• operate district heating networks at low temperatures.

This could cover, among others, one or more of the following aspects:

• Development, testing and validation phase of new and/or upgrade and replication of existing training schemes, including on-site training and mentoring schemes.
• Development or upgrade and dissemination of technical guidelines, including for buildings preparation for low-temperature district heating and solutions for heat storage.
• Capacity building for deploying renewable and efficient district heating and cooling networks, integrating district heating development and building renovation programmes, including links with planning and heat mapping.

Activities should:

• build on the lessons learned and material developed from previous projects and other programmes.
• be based on concrete successful examples.
• be tailored to local contexts.
• enable peer-to-peer learning; and
• be carried out, where applicable, through the use of existing software and tools.