Simulating conditions for combined heat and power in the Swedish district heating sector

The most important issues in the European energy sector today are how toincrease competitiveness on the energy markets, reduce both CO2 emissions anddependence on imported fuels. These issues are also important aspects of Swedish energypolicy. In Sweden, the district heating (DH) sector has commonly been used to achieveSwedish energy policy goals. However, the ongoing integration and deregulation of theenergy markets in Europe now means that the Swedish DH sector can also play animportant role in achieving international targets. This thesis investigates the extent towhich the Swedish DH sector can contribute to compliance with current energy policytargets, both international and Swedish. The study consisted of simulations of theSwedish DH sector response to various policy instruments in a model that takes the localfeatures of virtually all Swedish DH systems into account. The findings show, forexample, that there is great potential for combined heat and power (CHP) generation inthe Swedish DH sector. By exporting this CHP electricity to other European countrieswith less effective and fossil dependent power generation plants, the CO2 emissions fromthe European energy sector could be substantially reduced. This would also result inincreased security of supply and competitiveness in the EU, since fuel use would be moreeffective. In Sweden, increased CHP generation would also be a way of maintaining aneffective national security of supply of power