Articles

COHEAT reaches completion

From planning to the green transition

A year ago, COHEAT was already well on track. Now, the project has concluded with documented investments of EUR 44.57 million in green heating and energy renovation—around 40 per cent above the original target. A new report brings together the results and key lessons from the project.

From plans to investments 

Through their heat planning, municipalities have identified where district heating can be expanded, where individual heat pumps are appropriate, and where new collective solutions could play a role.

However, plans do not automatically lead to investments. Implementation requires coordination between municipalities, utilities, homeowners, advisers, suppliers and financial institutions. It also requires citizens to trust the process, the solutions and the organisations involved. Citizens therefore need relevant and reliable information at the right time to make decisions about their future heating systems and potential energy renovations.

COHEAT was launched to help bridge this gap between planning and implementation.

Three regional platforms 

At the heart of COHEAT were three Project Development Units (PDUs), involving seven municipalities in the Region of Southern Denmark:

  • PDU Funen covered the municipalities of Nyborg, Svendborg, Assens and Faaborg-Midtfyn. Activities focused on district heating expansion, energy renovation, and solutions for villages and areas without district heating.
  • PDU Triangle Area covered the municipalities of Middelfart and Kolding. Its work focused particularly on coordinated district heating expansion, targeted citizen engagement and the development of thermonet systems.
  • PDU Sønderborg built on the municipality’s longstanding climate action, working on both collective and individual heating solutions as well as energy renovation.

The PDUs served as local platforms, bringing together relevant stakeholders and supporting the development of concrete projects. They neither provided grants nor owned the projects. Their role was to remove barriers, coordinate activities and help prepare projects for implementation.

The overall investment target was exceeded by 40%

COHEAT aimed to mobilise EUR 31.9 million in investments between November 2022 and October 2025.

By the end of the project, EUR 44.57 million in investments had been mobilised and documented, equivalent to approximately DKK 332 million. This is around 40 per cent above the original target.

The investments comprised:

  • Approximately DKK 246 million in district heating expansion.
  • Approximately DKK 58 million in individual heat pumps.
  • Approximately DKK 28 million in energy renovation of private homes.

The high level of investment was driven particularly by strong uptake of district heating connections and substantial investment in energy renovation.

LESSONS LEARNED

COHEAT demonstrates that:

√ Heat planning needs to be followed by active efforts to develop concrete projects.

√ Citizen engagement works best when coordinated with technical planning and infrastructure expansion.

√ Municipalities and utilities need to work closely together.

√ Involving banks and other financial institutions early in the process can be beneficial.

√ New collective solutions require clear and stable framework conditions.

√ Municipal capacity and project development can provide an important complement to financial support schemes.

The central lesson is that the main challenge is not a lack of technical solutions. What matters most is coordinating stakeholders, reducing uncertainty and making the path from planning to investment easier to navigate.

PUBLISHABLE REPORT 

Results and lessons learned

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

New solutions require better framework conditions

COHEAT also worked on developing local collective heating solutions, such as thermonet systems. Several projects made substantial progress with technical studies, organisational arrangements and citizen engagement, but no final investment decisions were reached during the project period.

The experience shows that even technically well-prepared projects can be held back by uncertainties surrounding ownership structures, financing, long-term operational responsibility and legislation.

Nevertheless, this work has established a technical and organisational foundation for further project development and for improving the framework conditions for thermonet and other local collective solutions.

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