Barriers to and enablers of district cooling expansion in Sweden

Although Sweden is a northern country with fairly low outdoor temperatures most of the year, its districtcooling (DC) systems are expected to expand. Some actors claim that there is potential for at least adoubling of DC in Sweden. One reason for this is that demand for cooling increases with the increaseduse of electronics such as computers, resulting in higher indoor temperatures from waste heat production.Although DC should have considerable growth potential based on its convenience and climatebenefits, its growth has been surprisingly slow.This article discusses the barriers to and enablers of DC expansion. We examine how energy companies,property owners, and tenants perceive the barriers to and enablers of installing and using DC.How do these actors view the present and future need for cooling? What would make DC more attractiveaccording to these actors? These questions were studied using surveys and in-depth interviews.The results indicate that lack of information is the most important current barrier to DC expansion, abarrier that could easily be addressed, making information an enabler of DC. Earlier grid-based energysystems in Sweden were established through publiceprivate collaboration, and such collaboration couldpromote the ongoing expansion of DC. For example, municipalities played an important role whendistrict heating was built, but this has not been the case for DC. Another possible enabler is the ecolabellingof DC, which has so far played a minor role in the Swedish system.Funding agencies: Swedish District Association; Swedish Energy Agency [39607-1]