Powering Bjæverskov Together: A Citizen-Driven Approach to District Heating 

Bjæverskov is a small town of over 3 000 inhabitants 50 km outside Copenhagen, part of the Køge Municipality. The town has about 1 000 households, schools and businesses, which have so far been largely heated with individual natural gas boilers. Bjæverskov is now on the way to transitioning most of its buildings to district heating by 2027. 

Citizen engagement

Climate action is a very important topic for Køge Municipality, and they are committed to having a fossil free energy system by 2050. Their climate plan aligns with GHG emissions reduction goals and emphasises the importance of involving citizens in heat supply matters. The European energy crisis was an important driver for the citizens to push the transition towards a greener heating system in the town.  

The approach taken by Bjæverskov for their DH project was of close cooperation with citizen groups. As a result, the DH company that they created is owned by the citizens. A third of the heat supplied by the new DH network will be covered by the surplus heat of a nearby electric transformer station, as already agreed with the electricity company. The rest of the heat demand will be covered by air-to-water heat pumps and an electric boiler. The project already envisioned the connection of households to the network, so that it wouldn’t require a big investment for the citizens. 

The city is independent from the area in Denmark feeding from the big DH networks and therefore had to come up with a stand-alone solution for this project. This case can serve as inspiration for replication in other small cities in Europe, that may consider they are too small to have a DH system. 

^{© PlanEnergi} 

Main challenges to detoxify heat and next steps: 

1. Acceptance from citizens is a big challenge in a DH project – this was mitigated by ensuring security of investment for the citizens and preventing any financial risk from falling on them.
2. Getting the electricity company onboard – it was overcome with dialogue and addressing any security issues.
3. The city could not be part of the already existing big DH networks in Denmark and therefore came up with a stand-alone solution. 

Where Bjæverskov is in its heat strategy

Bjæverskov's Heat Detox

Key Heat Figures

• Km of DHC currently: none until the project started
• Km of DHC planned: 21 km
• Percentage of renewables in heating system: approximately 98%
• Other interesting figures: around 30 households are already connected to the network. Expecting to reach 900 – 950 households in 2 years

Covenant Figures

•  Signatory to the Covenant of Mayors since: 2011 (Køge municipality)
• Emission reduction ambitions: 
  % GHG emissions reductions by 2050: Climate neutrality

Related link

• Report in Hot Cool magazine