1. The economics of district heating

1.1 Closed or open district heating

Two types of district heating networks can be distinguished.

Closed district heating: as this form of heating is imposed on users, it is a monopoly. This is the case in large housing estates. In this case, the installation is designed for a well-defined, limited number of connections. The profitability of such a project can therefore be accurately calculated beforehand.

Open district heating: subscribers are free to connect to the network. The connection schedule is therefore uncertain, and actual results may differ greatly from assumptions. What's more, in this case, district heating is in open competition with individual installations (building boiler rooms, domestic installations in houses and apartments),...