  Current developments in heat pumps, supported by innovative business models,
are driving several industry sectors to take a proactive role in future
district heating and cooling networks in cities. For instance, supermarkets and
data centers have been assessing the reuse of waste heat as an extra source for
the district heating network, which would offset the additional investment in
heat pumps. This innovative business model requires complete deregulation of
the district heating market to allow industrial heat producers to provide waste
heat as an additional source in the district heating network. This work
proposes the application of innovative market designs for district heating
networks, inspired by new practices seen in the electricity sector. More
precisely, pool and market designs are addressed, comparing centralized and
decentralized market proposals. An illustrative case of a Nordic district
heating network is used to assess the performance of each market design, as
well as the potential revenue that different heat producers can obtain by
participating in the market. An important conclusion of this work is that the
proposed market designs are in line with the new trends, encouraging the
inclusion of new excess heat recovery players in district heating networks.
