Integrating renewables through district heating major goal of the city of Belgrade
Belgrade, 5 December 2019 – Issue of integrating renewables in Belgrade's district heating system is gaining momentum, as shown in the final presentation of results of the District Energy in Cities Initiative project in Belgrade, held as part of the 50th International Congress and Exhibition on Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning – HVAC&R at Sava Center, Belgrade. The initiative is part of the global „Sustainable Energy for All“ (SEforALL) platform, which supports countries in transforming energy markets towards energy-efficient solutions and increasing the share of renewable energy. The city of Belgrade is one of only few cities in the world where a deep-dive analysis has been conducted, with the intention of assessing the current state of the district energy system and providing recommendations for improvement.
Belgrade has the largest district heating system in Serbia and one of the largest in Europe, whose network is 1,420 km long and supplies heat to approximately half of the city’s buildings. Estimates from the city-owned district heating utility’s development strategy indicate that €380 millions of investment is needed over the next 25 years to modernize and expand the network, which could take the system from less than 1% renewable energy today to 65% renewable or recovered heat. Demonstration projects in Belgrade could help accelerate the market for such technologies in Serbia.
“Given that district heating systems in Serbia emit 1.73 million tons of CO2, 6,035 kg of SO2, 500 tons of particles and 10 tons of NOx, we have to think how to boost the share of renewables in an economically justified and cost-effective way. This [congress] is an excellent opportunity for the colleagues in the district heating systems to hear examples of good practice first hand so that they could come up with solutions for their activities in energy in the future,” said Dejan Stojanovic, Chair of the Governing Board of the Serbian Association of Heating Plants.
The project, whose main beneficiary is the public utility “Beogradske elektrane”, has enabled the development of District Energy Action Plan in Belgrade that identifies short-term and long-term measures to improve the system and reduce negative environmental impacts, including utilization of solar energy and expanding of network. Another important result of the Project is the pre-feasibility study on interconnection of heat sources within the 14 networks of the district energy system in Belgrade that identifies two main scenarios. Interconnection should enable district heating network extension, connection of more users, and simultaneously the reduced use of fossil fuel in residential heating, thus increasing energy efficiency and reducing PM emissions to enable better air quality. Furthermore, with the aim of increasing the share of renewable energy sources in district heating, a pre-feasibility study was conducted with the support of the Korean government, with an emphasis on solar thermal integration in district heating in Belgrade.
Presentations were delivered by a team of international experts and followed by Q&A and feedback from participants.
One of the Project’s specific goals is to enable replicability of obtained results to other cities in the country and abroad, thus it can be expected that the Project will not only benefit Belgrade, but also other cities in Serbia and the region.