# The Role of Low Temperature Waste Heat Recovery in Achieving 2050 Goals: A Policy Positioning Paper
## 3 Results
### Heat Market Overview
#### 3.1.2 Countries with Explicit Heat Regulations  
Two examples of countries with explicit heat regulations and mature heat markets are Denmark and Sweden. In Denmark, the market is regulated whilst, in Sweden, it is privatised. Both are discussed below. **Denmark**  
In Denmark, there are several measures in place that support district heating. These are (i) heat planning regulation, (ii) taxation, (iii) subsidies, (iv) heat price regulation, (v) CHP requirements, (vi) a ban on electrical heating and (vii) a law on district cooling. There is a tradition of encouraging efficient use of energy by ensuring there is a market for collective heat supply. This is achieved through heat planning regulation. This also encompasses planning for the use of waste heat. Taxation is applied to energy as a fuel and on its emissions, promoting a shift from fossil fuels. Before 2000, there were different, direct subsidies impacting the usage of district heating, such as subsidies for converting older houses to DH, speeding up the process of planned networks, and conversion from coal to gas. The heat price is regulated to reflect the actual cost. The idea is to offset the disadvantage to consumers of the natural monopolies that come from district heating ventures. The current electricity act stipulates that CHPs should be built with the main ambition of generating electricity. However, heat recovery from CHPs is mandatory. A ban on electric heating in buildings also encourages DH. The last support mechanism for DH is that there is a law that allows municipalities to operate commercial district cooling schemes using the same infrastructure as DH [16]. In March 2012, the Danish parliament agreed a strategy to reach 100% renewable energy in the energy system by 2050. A new energy agreement was signed in 2018 with the support of all sitting parties in parliament, reaffirming and strengthening Denmark's climate and energy goals leading up to 2030. The energy agreement contains a wide range of ambitious green initiatives. Companies and consumers will, in the coming years, receive cheaper heating through a modernisation of the heating sector, where both the district heating sector and consumers will have a free choice to decide on future investments. This will result in cheap heating both for companies and consumers [17]. Since the Danish government imposes an energy tax on natural gas, solar district heating plants are given the opportunity to compete with natural gas boilers. Consequently, solar district heating plants are commercially viable solutions in Danish district energy systems [17]. In the interest of low temperature district heating investments, it is worth mentioning that, in Denmark, the 4 DH research centre was active between 2012 and 2018 with contributions from several Danish and international universities, together with many Danish district heating companies. Researchers within this centre have written a 4 GDH definition paper [18] and a 4 GDH status paper [19]. Many papers have also been published in scientific journals from the annual international 4 DH conferences since 2015 [20]. Besides this initiative, however, there are no dedicated low temperature district heating incentives in place. **Sweden**  
With the support of energy and climate policy, district heating systems have been developed since the 1970's and transformed from a dependence on fossil fuels to biomass. This progression has resulted in the DH sector being almost fossil free [11]. Sweden has the largest percentage of industrial heat recovery in its district heating systems in the world [21]. An energy and carbon tax was introduced on fuels used in heat production in 1991. From 2008 onwards, the carbon tax was gradually phased out for those combustion plants covered by the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS), in order not to interfere with this policy. Two governmental investment grant schemes (1991-1996 and 1997-2002) played an important role in the construction phase of biomass-based CHPs.