Steering Committee (part of RHC Board):
- Chair: Ralf-Roman Schmidt, AIT Austrian Institute for Technology
- Vice-Chair: Abdulrahman Dahash, AIT Austrian Institute for Technology
Management of the group:
Laura Fernandes Junasová, Euroheat & Power
The District Heating and Cooling and Thermal Energy Storage Technology Panel of the RHC-Platform was launched in July 2018.
District Heating and Cooling (DHC) is a proven solution for delivering heating, hot water and cooling services through a network of insulated pipes, from a central point of generation to the end user. DHC networks are well suited to supply locally available, renewable and low-carbon energy; solar thermal and geothermal heat, waste heat from industry and commercial buildings, heat from combined heat and power plants. The ability to integrate diverse energy sources means customers are not dependent upon a single source of supply. By aggregating a large number of small and variable heating and cooling demands, District Heating and District Cooling allow energy flows from multiple RES to be combined while reducing primary energy demand and carbon emissions in the community served.
Thermal energy storage (TES) is the solution for a key bottleneck against the widespread and integrated use of RES, since the renewable supply does not always coincide with the demand for heating or cooling, and electricity. Numerous technologies in sensible, latent or thermochemical form can time-shift renewable energy supply to periods of greatest demand, each of them characterised by different specifications and specific advantages. TES contributes to energy system integration, offering flexibility to the wider energy system and storage of variable renewable electricity.
Objectives of the Districts HWG (agreed by the members in September 2026)
- Identify and prioritise technolog and R&I needs for the transition towards sustainable, renewable and increasingly integrated district heating and cooling systems.
- Support the development and deployment of next-generation DHC technologies, including 4th and 5th generation, low-temperature, decentralised and flexible systems, thermal energy storage, subsurface technologies (e.g. energy geostructures – energy piles).
- Advance the development and integration of thermal energy storage with DHC, including short- and long-duration storage, underground thermal energy storage, innovative materials, monitoring and the repurposing of existing infrastructure for storage.
- Explore the role of DHC and TES in energy-system flexibility and sector coupling, including electricity-market integration, demand-side flexibility and energy management.
- Address digitalisation and advanced control, including digital tools, monitoring, automation, digital twinning, MPC and AI applications for DHC and TES.
- Identify technological pathways for integrating renewable energy and excess/waste heat, including heat pumps, data centers and other renewable heat sources (e.g., energy geostructures).
- Assess technology maturity, performance, costs and replication potential and identify gaps requiring further R&I.
- Bring together industry, utilities, research organisations and technology providers to identify innovation needs and opportunities for collaboration.
- Strengthen cooperation with other RHC-ETIP Technology Panels and relevant IEA TCPs, avoiding duplication and building on existing R&I work.
- Translate identified technology needs into strategic R&I priorities and recommendations, including contributions to the SET Plan SRIAs, Horizon Europe and other relevant programmes.
Active members of the group:
- Adrian Mota Babiloni, Universitat Jaume I
- Ana Vieira, National Laboratory of Civil Engineering
- Andy Frew, Thermacad Energy Consultancy
- Angel Bianco, IPM SOLUTIONS 2018 S.L.
- Anil Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
- Antonio Gagliano, University of Catania
- Aoife Braiden, RML
- Barbara Marchetti, università degli studi ecampus
- Bernd van den Brekel, Canopus Drilling Solutions Geothermal
- Bertrand Guillemot, Dalkia
- Bijan Adl Zarrabi, Chalmers
- Birol Kilkis, OSTIM Technical University
- Björn Palm, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- Borja Flagg Díaz, SoleaHeat
- Bulent Yesilata, AYBÜ
- Charles MARAGNA, BRGM
- Christian Doczekal, Güssing Energy Technologies GmbH
- Damir Djakovic, University of Nivi Sad Faculty of Technical Sciences
- Daniel Friedrich, University of Edinburgh
- Darwin Lameris, Gemeente Heemskerk
- David Kecskemeti, Hungarian District Heating Association
- Dirk Mangold, Solites
- Dominika Lange, COGEN Europe
- Dragostin Catalin, energy-serv srl
- Fabian Sander, Centria University of Applied Sciences
- Francesco Rizzi, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
- Gabriel Zsembinszki, University of Lleida
- Gerfried Cebrat, effiziente.st Energie- und Umelrconsulting e.U.
- Glenn Reynders, KU Leuven – EnergyVille
- Giuseppe Mandrone, University of Torino (ITA)
- Hakan Ibrahim Tol, AEE INTEC
- HAKKI TIGLI, EHT Venlo BV
- Harald Drueck, IGTE University of Stuttgart
- Hrvoje Dorotić, Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar (EIHP)
- Igor Varavva, ETC Avtomatika
- Irapua Santos Ribeiro, Thermodemand Consulting
- Jan Jette Blangé, Canopus Drilling Solutions Geothermal
- Kapil Chand Singhal, B P Refcool
- Kashif Mushtaq, Iberian Center for Research in Energy Storage CIIAE
- Kenneth Hoffmann, GEA Heating and Refrigeration Technologies
- Konstantinos kiriakopoulos, Dsitrict Heating company of amindeo (DHCA)
- Lorenzo Talluri, Università degli Studi di Firenze
- Luisa F. Cabeza, University of Lleida
- Marc Schreurs, DAIKIN EUROPE NV EDC
- Marco Calderoni, R2M Solution
- Marco Pellegrini, University of Bologna
- Maria Capogreco, Freelance Engineer
- Maria Koukou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
- Markku Huhtinen, Savonia UAS
- Marta Gurin, CEWEP
- Mitchell NewDelman, None
- Monica Arnaudo, Siemens
- Monika Krasteva, Howest
- Oliver Buchan, Oliveris Tech Incubator
- Peter Dannbring, DHC-Advisory AB
- Ramanunni Parakkal Menon, German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
- Raúl Robledo-Cabezuela, CADE Soluciones de Ingeniería.
- Saeed Mohammadi, Autonomous Building LTD
- Stefan Schuessler, Solstice Advanced Materials
- Stefano Spinaci, European Parliament
- Thomas Schleker, European Commission
- Traonvouez Luc, INSULA France
- Uli Jakob, Dr. Jakob energy research GmbH & Co. KG
- William Davis, Insight Media Group Ltd
- Willy Villasmil, HSLU – Lucerne University of Applied Sciences
- Zhuolun Chen, UNEP
