Demo-followers' District Round Table

In WEDISTRICT project, industry innovators from 9 European countries will integrate multiple
sources of renewable energy and excess heat to showcase solutions for 100% fossil free
district heating and cooling systems being aligned with the foremost goal of the European
Green Deal which is reaching climate-neutrality in 2050.

The WEDISTRICT solutions will be implemented in four real-scale projects in Spain, Romania,
Poland and Sweden. These demosites will showcase technological montages that can be
replicated across different climate zones and building types. The demosites will be used to
establish best practices that will transform the heating and cooling sector.
As part of the project, other virtual demosites have been set-up. These virtual demosites are
based on new or existing DHC system wishing to test improvements based on WEDISTRICT
concepts (e.g: RES, waste heat recovery option). The virtual demosites are counted as
WEDISTRICT demo-followers. Each virtual demosite has one referent WEDISTRICT partner
in charge of its evaluation.
Discussions have started to gather information regarding virtual demosites expectations,
needs and action plan. Key DHC system characteristics as central station size, equipment
features, thermal and cooling profiles, current operation strategies, economic information and
other useful inputs have been collected in order to agree on the main challenges in terms of
energy efficiency and costs reduction.
The main objective of the activity is to support the current system, in retrofit cases, or propose
the new generation plan, in greenfield cases, of the demo-followers, demonstrating the
WEDISTRICT replicability potential by multiplying examples of DHC based on renewable
energies. Each virtual demosite will integrate the most suitable technologies and operation
strategies for improving the energy efficiency and lowering the emissions, considering the best
cost-effective solutions.

To summarize, the WEDISTRICT demo-followers’ community focuses on the large-scale
replication potential of the technologies. Key outcomes of the project will be established
guidelines based on the real and virtual demos aiming at advising for DHC systems
improvement and optimisation, adapting the solution to the country and climate in which the
DH/C is installed. The use of local resources, renewable energies, and waste heat recovery
technologies will be encouraged.