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Overview of National DHC Market
Country	Italy

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1. Summary

This report presents an overview of the district heating and cooling sectors in Italy from year 2000 until 2006, the last year for which are available a set of significant data.

The consistence of the district heating (DH) sector is still very small, since it is covering about 2.5% of the global heating needs in Italy.

This is mainly due to the particular climatic condition existing in the country. In fact the northern regions, close to the Alps, and in the mountain areas the winter season is characterized by a mean temperature close or under 0 °C and by a heating period of about 6 months (corresponding to E and F climatic zones from over 2100 to 3000 and above degrees-day). In the central part of the country prevails a 4,5 months winter (D zone with degrees-day over 1400 to 2100). The winter period is further reduced in Southern Italy to 3-4 months (C, B and A climatic zones).

Another element explaining the limited extension of DH sector is the excellent territorial coverage (both North-South and East-West) of the natural gas network and the very high diffusion of domestic heating boilers (more than 14 millions) connected to the gas grid.

In 2006, despite the energetic sector difficulties, significant changes in DH penetration have been acknowledged and a huge increase of DH heated volumes did occur. In particular during the year it was registered an increase of the space volume connected to a heating grid of about 14% (an increase never reached before).

Furthermore, it should be noted that the district cooling sector (DC) is presently very small and that little significant changes are expected in the near future.

In the following tables are reported the increase of the DH connected volume in the last years and the main increments registered until 2008 (source: Italian District HeatinAssociation, AIRU ).

Year	Increase (M m3)	Global volume (M m3)	Increase %
1999	9,1	109,8
2000	7,5	117,3	6,8
2001	8,6	125,9	7,3
2002	6,4	132,3	5,1
2003	7,8	140,1	5,9
2004	4,2	144,4	3,0
2005	11,2	155,6	7,8
2006	21,7	177,3	14,0
2007	21,3	198,7	12,0
2008	13,2	211,9	6,7

In particular DHC situation at the end of 2006 is summarised as follows:

Historical grids ( M m3 )		Other grids ( M m3 )		New grids ( M m3 )
Torino	7,039	Milano Gallarate	1,161	Rivoli	3,918
Brescia	0,988	Sesto San Giovanni	0,618	Settimo Torinese	1,878
Verona	0,459	Parma	0,600	Lodi	1,300
Ferrara	0,216	Bergamo Centro	0,316	Cassano d’Adda	0,907
Mantova	0,211	Tirano	0,306	Morbegno	0,485
Alba	0,182	Voghera	0,168	Bergamo Ovest	0,168
Cremona	0,150			Bergamo Monte Rosso	0,160
Reggio Emilia	0,117			Legnano	0,130
				Bomporto	0,100
				Bologna San Biagio	0,077
Total	9,363		3,169		9,123

In the previous table are not inserted many small capacity plants feeded with biomass operating in the Bolzano Province ( about 21 plant for a total of 258 GWh ) and in the Trento Province.

During 2007 the following new grids have been implemented

Tonw/Grid	Company	Heated Volume Cubic meter	Main energy source
1. Rho Polo esterno di Fiera Milano (Mi)	AEM Calore &Servizi	4.500.000	Municipal Solid Waste
2. Saluzzo (CN)	Cofathec Reti	793.630	Cogeneration
3. Rho Nord-Ovest (Mi)	Steam	600.000	Cogeneration
4. Morgex (AO)	Soc. Energ. Aostana	596.000	Biomass
5. Fossano (CN)	EGEA	470.000	Cogeneration
6. Rho Mazzo (Mi)	Comune di Rho	332.000	Cogeneration
7. Pollein (AO)	Soc. Energ. Aostana	300.000	Biomass
8. Pré Saint Didier (AO)	Soc. Energ. Aostana	280.000	Biomass
9. Santa Caterina (SO)	TCVVV	250.400	Biomass
10. Rho S. Martino Lucernate (Mi)	Steam	200.000	Cogeneration
11. Rimini Viserba (RI)	SGR Reti	169.167	Cogeneration
12. Monterotondo marittimo (GR)	Comune di Monterotondo	136.661	Geothermal
13. Piossasco (TO)	Soc. Energ. Piossasco	122.000	Boiler
14. Pero (Mi)	Teleriscaldamento Pero	70.000	Municipal Solid Waste
15. Castel Bolognese (RA)	HERA	60.000	Cogeneration
16. Ravenna Centro (RA)	HERA	45.000	Boiler
17. Ravenna Sud (RA)	HERA	23.600	Boiler
18 Ravenna Bassette (RA)	HERA	23.000	Boiler
Total		8.971.458

The main improvement occurred during year 2007 concerning the existing systems are reported in the following table:

Town/Grid	Heat volume	Grid lenght	Cogeneration plants (fossil fuels)		New RES plants		Boiler heat
	Cubic meter	km	MWe	MWt	MWe	MWt	MWt
1 Torino	3.926.582	10,7	-	-	-	-	255
2 Brescia	1.043.564	15,5	-	-	-	-	-5,0
3 Sesto San Giovanni	898.000	4,4	-	-	-	-	-
4 Legnano-Castellanza	776.250	4,5	6,0	4,8	-	-	18,0
5 Parma	500.000	2,3	-	-	-	-	-
6. Varese	409.600	1,7	-	-	-	-	7,0
7. Casalecchio di Reno	369.733	-	-	-	-	-	-
8. Bologna Fossolo	331.429	0,5	-	-	-	-	-
9. Morbegno-Talamona	315.000	5,0	7,1	7,2	-	-	-
10. Voghera	263.250	3,1	-	-	-	-	10,0
11. Milano Sud	258.000	1,3	-	-	-	-	-
12. Milano Gallaratese	249.820	2,9	-	-	-	-	-
13. Mantova Alba	212.470	5,1	-	-	-	-	-
14. Ferrara	108.002	18,6	-	-	-	-	9,6
15. Reggio Emilia	104.820	6,5	-	-	-	-	1,4
16. Osimo	15.79	0,2	-	-	-	-	9,0
17 Other	2.566.037	52,8	-	-	-	-	10,9
Total increases	12.348.349	135,1	13,1	12,0	-	-	315,9

During 2008 the following new grids have been implemented

Tonw/Grid	Company	Heated Volume Cubic meter	Plant typology
1. Canale (CN)	EGEA Spa	90.000	(1) 1 x 750 kWe + 1.000 kWt (3) 3 x 850 kWt
2. Cortemilia (CN)	EGEA Spa	50.000	(1) 2 x 250 kWe + 300 kWt (3) 2 x 500 kWt (4) 1 x 300 kWt
3. S.Felice sul Panaro	AIMAG Spa	49.000	(1) 1 x 490 kWe + 700 kWt (3) 1 x 1500 kWt
4. Piobesi Torinese	Metan Api Energia	12.400	(2) 1 x 70 kWe + 120 kWt (3) 1 x 650 kWt
Total heated volume	201.400 cm
Total electric power	1.810 kWe
Total thermal power	8.120 MWt
- cogeneration	2.120 MWt
- auxiliary boiler	6.000 MWt

(1) Gas Reciprocating engine

(2) Micro turbine

(3) Gas auxiliary boilers

(4) Waste auxiliary boilers

The main improvement occurred during year 2008 concerning the existing systems are reported in the following table:

Town/Grid	Heat volume	Grid lenght	Cogeneration plants (fossil fuels)		New RES plants		Cogenerated heat	Waste plants
	Cubic meter	km	MWe	MWt	MWe	MWt	MWt	MWt
1 Milano-Tecnocity	1.284.871	0,2
2 Sesto San Giovanni	1.153.496	5,0
3 Brescia	936.699	16,7
4 Legnano	899.775	3,0
5 Milano-Città 2000	687.000	3,9
6 Bergamo Ovest	587.653	6,8						1,8
7 Bologna-Barca	559.510	-
8 Torino	501.597	2,0					260,0
9 Parma	500.000	9,5
10 Imola	157.404	9,3	82,0	80,0
11 Roma	-	-					60,0
12 Mantova	320.000	3,4				-9,7	25,0
13 Alba	4.821	-	20,0	30,0
14 Verona-Forte Procolo	83.942	1,1	6,5	5,9
15 Reggio Emilia - Rete2	342.000	-						18,6
16 Bologna Sede Hera	-	-	4,9	4,0
17 Rovereto	70.231		2,4	2,4
18 Bolzano	-	-	2,7	2,1				28,4
Total 1-18	8.088.999	60,8	118,4	124,4	-	-9,7	345,0	48,8
Other	4.939.578	21,3	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total increases	13.028.577	82,1	118,4	124,4	-	-9,7	345,0	48,8

2. District heating main characteristics

At the end of 2008 the situation of district heating in Italy is mainly characterised by the following data:

Global heated volume (Vol)	211,9,3	M m3
Extension of the heating grid	2.286	km
N° of substations (ST)	38.505
N° of consumers	> 0,55	M
Thermal power to costumers (Pc)	6.257	MWt
Installed electric power	777	MWe
Number of served towns	83

2.1. Costumers installation typology

The type of installation that provides both heating and domestic hot water prevails (about 65%) and this means that the installations in new buildings better fit the district heat pipeline systems.

In the following table gives some key data about the installations and their variations during the years:

Year	Thermal power (MWt)	Heated Volume (M m3)	ST (n°)	Pc/Vol (W/ m3)	Pc/ST (kW/ST)	Incremental Pc/ST* (kW/ST)
2000	3.623	117.3	18.594	31	195	178
2001	3.916	125.9	22.529	31	174	74
2002	4.123	132.4	24.288	31	170	118
2003	4.487	140.2	26.332	32	170	178
2004	4.669	144.4	27.949	32	167	113
2005	5.054	155.6	30.371	32	166	159
2006	5.680	177.3	33.315	32	170	213
2007	6.249	198,7	37.048	31	169	153
2008	6.626	211.9	39.595	31	168	153

*) Value of the incremental thermal power delivered to consumers in the year divided by the incremental number of the substations

The specific thermal power installed per cubic meter doesn’t change, as well as the thermal power installed per substation. The incremental value of the specific thermal power per substation showed a decrease during the last 2 year from 213 kW to 153 kW per substation.

2.2. Territorial distribution of the installations

The development of the DH sector in Italy is concentrated in Northern regions (204,5 Mm³ equal to the 97% of the global heated volume is concentrated in five regions: Lombardia, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna, Veneto e Trentino - Alto Adige.

In the following table is reported the regional distribution of the district heating systems:

Region		Volume 2007 (M m3)	Volume 2008 (M m3)	%
1	Lombardia	88,1	96,0	45,3
2	Piemonte	52,8	54,4	25,7
3	Emilia Romagna	30,7	32,6	15,4
4	Veneto	12,5	12,8	6,0
5	Trentino - A.A.	7,2	7,5	3,6
6	Liguria	2.2	3,4	1,6
7	Lazio	2,3	2,3	1,1
8	Toscana	1	1	0,5
9	Marche	0,6	0,6	0,3
Total		198,7	211,93	100
Total 1-5		192,6	204,5	97

This situation confirms that climatic conditions in the Central and in the Southern regions of Italy are not suitable for the diffusion of a district heating system.

2.3. Plant typology

In the following table is reported the typology, the thermal and electric power of the installed plant: up to the end of 2008

Plant typology	Electric Power (MWe)	Thermal Power (MWt)
Cogeneration plant with fossil fuel	747	1.054
Thermoelectric plant		897
Domestic waste plant		309
Thermal plant with biomass		129
Cogeneration plant with biomass	29	58
Heat from industrial process		31
Geothermal plant		41
Heat pumps		5
Auxiliary boilers		1339
Back up boilers		1908
Total	777	5.771

The typology of fossil fuelled cogeneration plant is reported in the following table:

2.4. Fuel utilized

In the table is reported the mix of the primary energy utilised in the district heating system:

Fuel typology	Quantity 2005 (toe) %		Quantity 2008 (toe) %
Natural gas (1)	383.521	60,1	680.825	68,4
Coal (1)	69.810	11,1	96,910	9,7
Biomass	72.092	13,0	92.037	9,2
Fuel Oil (1)	79.726	12,7	57.022	5,7
Domestic solid waste	6.708	1,1	55.937	5,6
Geothermal	4.472	0,7	10.232	1
Heat from industrial process	4.644	0,7	2.497	0,3
Fossil fuels Total	533.057	84,5	834.757	84
Renewable energy Total	97.916	15,5	160.704	16
Total	630.970		995.461

(1) Data comprehensive of the major consumption caused by heat taken from thermoelectric power plant.

Since 2006 the methodology for the determination of electrical power of thermoelectric power plant and the evaluation of energy demand has changed, due to the implementation of the 2004/8/EC Cogeneration Directive. The data of the table are reported accordingly.

It is important to observe that natural gas is the most important source of energy; its role increased from 2005 to 2008. Moreover there is only a small increase of renewable energy (from 15.5% to 16% in 2008) mainly due to RSU utilisation. The main role is played by Biomass and by Domestic wastes that reached together the14.8% of the total.

Only a marginal role is covered by Geothermal and by heat derived from industrial process.

2.5. District heat and electricity delivered

In 2008 the plant supplying the district heating in Italy produced 2.464 GWh of electric energy and 7.095 GWht of thermal energy and 102,3 GWh of cooling.

The delivered energy after internal use and losses amounts respectively to 2.286 GWhe and 6.257 GWht and 101,9 GWh of cooling, corresponding respectively to 93,0%, 88% and 99 % of the generated energy.

In the following table are reported the heat generated versus the systems of production for 2008:

Type of production	Thermal energy (GWht)	%
Cogeneration plant	3.819	53,8
Thermal boiler	2.004	28,2
Renewable source	1.271	17,9
Heat pumps	1,29	0,02
Total	7.095

It is important to consider that the heat from renewable sources (Biomass, Geothermal, domestic wastes) represent a consistent share (17,9 %) of the global. The contribution of thermal boiler (simple combustion) is also noticeable.

It should also be noted that about 72% of the heat is produced from technologies with a low environmental impact.

Moreover, taking into account that the electric power installed in cogenerating power plants is 777 MWe and that the thermal power installed is 3.863 MWt (excluding the thermal power of Back up Plants) the equivalent numbers of operating hours are respectively 3.171 h/year for electricity and 1.837 h/year for heat (58 % of the figure for electricity).

2.6. Energy savings and environmental balances

In 2008 the fossil energy used by the district heating system is reported in the following table:

Fossil primary Energy	Quantity	Energy content
Natural gas	708.3 MNm3c	7.547 GWh
Gasoil	472 t	5,6 GWh
Crude oil	58208 t	562 GWh
Coal	149.150 t	986,5 GWh
Electric energy	93 GWhe	231 GWh
EE-INC (1)	105 GWhe	362 GWh
EE-CTE (2)	233 GWhe	582 GWh
Total		10.176,1 GWh

(1) Decrease of electric production due to heat removal from waste power plants

(2) Decrease of electric production due to heat removal from thermoelectric plants

The net energy delivered from district heating system was:

Thermal energy	6.257 GWht
Cooling energy	101,9 GWht
Electric energy	2.286,0 GWhe

The energetic needs of the substituted system (a conventional system that produce the same amounts of electric and thermal energy) should be:

Natural gas for thermal energy	925 MNm3	7.821 GWh
Mix sources for cooling		85,4 GWh
Mix sources for electric energy		5.715,0 GWh
Total		13.621,4 GWh

In conclusion, the annual saving in primary energy is of 3.445,3 GWh, equivalent to 0,296 Mtoe with a related reduction in CO₂ emissions of 0,821 Mt.

The evaluation of energy saving and the reduction in CO₂ emissions was done with these assumptions:

- Electric efficiency of the system substituted: 0,4

- Thermal efficiency of boilers substituted: 0,8

- COP of heat pumps substituted: 3,0

Specific emissions of CO2:

- Natural Gas 1,937 kg CO₂/Nm³

- Gas oil 3,170 kg CO₂/kg

- Fuel Oil 3,204 kg CO₂/kg

- Coal 2,564 kg CO₂/kg

- Electric system substituted 0,662 kg CO₂/kWhe

3. District cooling main characteristics

At the end of 2008 the distributed production of refrigerated water through absorption coolers based on district heating accounted for 95 installed groups equivalent to 93,0 MWt .

The centralised production and distribution of cooled water amounted to 51,3 MWt.

The total installed cooling capacity was 144,3 MW and the corresponding energy supplied to the consumers was about 101,9 GWh (about 1,6 % of the thermal energy supplied).

It is interesting to note that the equivalent running hours was of about 700 h/year, a value too low to justify the cost of the installation.

4. 2006 Statistics and comparison with previous years

Year		1995	2000	2005	2008
Town heated	N°	27	27	57	83
Systems owners	N°	25	25	40	46
Number of grids	N°	45	53	87	120
- Hot water	N°	26	27	55	77
- Superheated water	N°	17	22	23	35
- Steam	N°	2	4	9	8
Global heated volume	Mm3	74	117	156	212
Thermal power	MWt	1.331	2.248	3.035	3.863
Electrical power in cogeneration	MWe	466	507	649	777
Thermal energy supplied to costumers	GWht	2.687	3.854	5.500	6257
- From renewables	%	6	12	17	18
- From cogeneration (fossil fuel)	%	76	66	57	54
- Simple production (boilers)	%	18	22	26	28
Electrical energy to the grid	GWhe	1.671	1.932	2.235	2.286
Length of distribution grid	km	648	1.091	1.667	2.259
N° of Substations	N°	10.148	18.594	30.371	39.505
Energy savings	toe	125.930	197.923	239.293	296.575
Reduction of CO2 emissions	t	380.970	599.134	692.871	821.516

5. Concluding remarks

From the presented data it can be drawn the following considerations

§ In Italy district heating is mainly concentrated in northern regions and covers about 2,5% of the global heat demand

§ The penetration of district heating showed an increasing trend, with an increase in 2008 of about 20% with respect to 2006. The overall heated volume is about 211,9 Mm³ and a length of the heat grid of about 2.259 km

§ Primary fossil fuels represents the main energetic source with a share of 82 %, of which natural gas plays the key role. The renewable contribution covers the remaining 18 %, the main sources being biomasses and domestic wastes

§ The installed electrical power of CHP was of 777 MWe. The corresponding energy delivered to the electrical grid was respectively 2.286 GWhe. The equivalent full load operation hours for CHP plants were 3.171 h/year

§ The global thermal power installed, without considering the back up boilers, was of 3.863 MWt and the thermal energy delivered to the grid reached 7.095 GWh. The equivalent full load operation hours were therefore 1.837 hours/year.

§ The thermal losses of the heat distribution system was about 12 %

§ The estimated energy savings of the global Italian DH system amounted to 0,296 Mtoe (about 0,14% of Italian global energy demand) with a consequent reduction of 0,821 Mt of CO₂ (about 0,15% of Italian global CO₂ emissions)

§ District cooling plays in Italy a marginal role, representing only 1,6 % of DH.