Supra-Regional District Heating Networks: A Missing Infrastructure for a Sustainable Energy System

This paper analyses the concept of supra-regional district heating networks (SR-DHN), connecting a large number of actors. It then analyses, in an interdisciplinary qualitative manner and supported by a case study, what technical, operational, economic and legal issues must have been resolved. Results show that the heat transmission network, being the backbone of the SR-DHN, is an expensive infrastructure, but is likely to become economic in a non-fossil energy system