1. Barriers and enabling tools for renewable heating and cooling
Pedro Dias
ESTIF Secretary General
FROnT project coordinator
How do we enable local authorities
and consumers?

2. Building Blocks for European Leadership in Renewables: The importance of the local level

3. FROnT Objectives Background Need to understand RHC sector: Costs
Potential
Market
Need to understand H&C consumers:
Needs & expectations
Key decision factors
Need to identify best practices for RHC support policies:
Evaluate existing schemes
Identify key success factors
Integrated approach to RHC sector
To support a better insight of the value of the energy supplied by RHC systems, promoting transparency and clarity towards end-users and other stakeholders
To improve the understanding of the end-users decision making process with regard to heating and cooling systems in order to develop tailored approaches and facilitate adequate measures enhancing the uptake of RHC
To facilitate the setting-up of improved and sustainable RHC integrated support schemes
To promote the implementation at national and European level of strategic policy priorities that can contribute to efficiently and cost-effectively implement the NREAPs

4. Understanding heating & cooling
First challenge is to understand the complexity of the heating and cooling sector. But also to descomplexify it. So we need to understand that there are different dimentions and we need to be sure we are talking about the same thing.

5. Understanding heating & cooling
GWh
872 TWh
5738 TWh
3175 TWh
Annual fluctuation of gas/electricity demand, The Netherlands, Source: GasNaturally.
The relevance and complexity of the heating sector has not been fully understood.
H&C is half of EU energy demand, variability is huge across different seasons.
(Graph shows annual fluctuation of demand for electricity and gas in NL. In EU, 80% of gas goes into H&C. Gas fluctuation is therefore significantly similar to H&C demand fluctuation. )
In absolute terms, RES-HC is bigger than RES-E.
© ESTIF 2016
Source; Eurostat data for 2014 (SHARES)
204 TWh
1017 TWh
3432 TWh

6. Strategic Policy Priorities
Addressing Barriers
Financing
Lack of awareness
Market conditions
Stable framework
Financing: RES H&C technologies’ investment cost is often higher than traditional fossil fuel equipment. Even if the total economic savings throughout the lifetime of the RES equipment is greater than the fossil equipment, this higher initial cost is a true barrier and represents the main rejection reason for RES technologies, at least in the residential sector.
Lack of awareness: the survey shows that awareness of all RES technologies, notably emerging technologies, is very low in all sectors: residential, non-residential and industrial sectors. This represents an important barrier to the deployment of RES H&C technologies. The lack of political awareness can also be an important barrier as RES H&C technologies are not identified by policy-makers and therefore not properly incentivized.
Market conditions: Comparing the cost of fossil and RES installations under current market conditions leads to misguiding results; fossil fuel remains heavily promoted, including in the framework of energy efficiency legislation and through public investments in large and local infrastructure. Additionally, their negative externalities are very often not internalised and therefore create a burden for the society. It is therefore a real challenge for RES technologies to become competitive in such an unfair market.
Lack of strategic priorities and governance: In order for policy to be effective and coherent, a wider and long-term strategy, with clear and achievable objectives, should be designed. Then, a strong and coherent set of instruments should be developed to reach these objectives.

7. Local answers to consumers needs
Financing schemes
Demand aggregation
Guidance
Neutral expert advice
One-stop Shop
Web-based solutions / tools
Planned replacement
Time to consider alternatives

8. Policy Paper – Strategic Policy Recommendations for RHC in Europe
Good practices for RHC support schemes
Policy makers , energy agencies
Online Tool to estimate RHC energy costs
End-users, residential sector
Market Facilitators
End users, EA, PA, TA, Industry
Strategic Policy Priorities
Key deliverables:
Manual of good practice for Design, Implementation, Operation of support schemes
provides recommendations for the design and implementation of successful financial support schemes for RES-HC technologies. It covers technical, economical, financial, legal and marketing aspects.
Target group: Policy makers
Development of online tool: Allows consumers to calculate the lifetime cost of renewable heat and cooling technologies and to assess the competitiveness of renewable energy technologies (biomass, solar thermal, air-source heat pump and ground-source heat pump) against traditional fossil fuels.
Target group: End-users, residential sector
Objective: What motivates people to install RHC technologies? What are the barriers?
National surveys on end-user key decision making factors on RHC systems
Tools to support end-user decisions on RHC systems
Recommendations on promoting transparency in RHC energy costs
Target group: End users, Energy Agencies, Trade Associations, Public Authorities.
Presented next in more detail:
Policy Paper – Strategic Policy Recommendations for RHC in Europe
Identification of barriers to RHC deployment
Policy recommendations
Target groups: Policy makers at EU, National and local level
Policy makers: EU, Nat’l & local

9. Thank you!

10. Join #EUSEW17 www.eusew.eu ‘EU Sustainable Energy Week’
@euenergyweek & #EUSEW17
‘EU Sustainable Energy Week’