The actions of the Support DHC project, co-financed by the European Union under the LIFE programme, the financial instrument for the environment and climate action, have officially started.

The 3-year project aims to support the transformation of the District Heating and Cooling (DHC) sector – i.e. the one related to district heating and cooling technologies – in the coming decades, with the goal of achieving near-total decarbonisation.

The main challenges to be tackled will concern investments in infrastructure and components, the development of awareness and involvement of supply chain operators, and the grounding of technologies and initiatives for a concrete and massive use of renewable sources and waste heat.

Through the project, concrete support will be offered to operators in the planning of decarbonisation paths and in the development of their investment plans with particular reference to 6 European countries: Austria, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.

For Politecnico di Milano – the Italian contact point for the project – researchers from the Department of Energy and the Department of Architecture, Civil Engineering and the Built Environment (ABC) will be involved; the project will therefore be an opportunity to create an interdepartmental working group on a topic that is fundamental for the development of the built environment and thermal systems in Italy.

Support DHC is coordinated by WIP – Wirtschaft und Infrastruktur Gmbh & Co Planungs Kg (Germany) and involves the following partners

• AGFW-Projektgesellschaft für Rationalisierung, Information und Standardisierung Mbh (Germany),
• AEE Intec – Institut für Nachhaltige Technologien (Austria)
• E-think – Zentrum für Energiewirtschaft und Umwelt (Austria)
• Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
• Euroheat & Power (Belgium)
• PlanEnergi Fond (Denmark)
• Högskolan i Halmstad (Sweden)
  LITHUANIAN DISTRICT HEATING ASSOCIATION (Lithuania)
• Municipal Institution City Institute – (Ucraina)
• Stowarzyszenie Gmin Polska Sieć “Energie Cités” (Poland)