District heating: challenges to its development and mapping of the potential: a case study in Belgium

European energy policy acknowledges the significant contribution district heating networks can pay to energy savings and energy efficiency. In contrast to most northern European countries, Belgian energy production is mainly centralised, whereas decentralised energy supply, such as district heating and cooling, is rather rare. The development is confined yet stimulated by different challenges and incentives which are discussed and categorised in this paper. Spatial features, and more specifically density and proximity, are important factors arising from the latter bottleneck discussion. Therefore, in this paper, a heat mapping study is presented. A heat map of the area illustrating the linear heat density is created in order to determine the potential for district heating per street segment. The district heating (DH) potential study on the one hand and the challenges study on the other hand present a clear view of the DH network potential in certain areas in the municipalit