TRANSFORMATION OF DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEMS: LATVIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The Ukrainian energy and district heating systems have struggled to survive for the last four years of war. This forced Ukraine to reconsider its approaches to resisting threats and overcoming challenges to the critical infrastructure. These approaches are based on facility modernization, renewables usage and energy localization. Scientists and experts pointed out that these transformations should be supported by the development of market regulation instead of the current hard state regulation. The DH development of the Baltic countries can be useful for planning the Ukrainian DH renovation due to some common features. This investigation aims to analyze the key aspects of DH modernization according to the modern conditions of market and society development in large and small Latvian settlements. The study combines the use of methods of system and deductive analysis, comparative and graphical analysis. The statistical base of the study was obtained from open resources, in particular, local operators of heating networks in Riga and Salaspils. During the first decade of this century, Latvian local DH systems have been dependent on imported fossil fuels, in particular, natural gas. But due to the implementation of market competition and increasing fossil fuel prices, most settlements have succeeded in replacing them with local renewables, e.g., solid biofuel. It was noted that large settlements like Riga are limited in the use of solid biofuels due to logistical, infrastructural and environmental barriers. In contrast, small cities like Salaspils have almost completely abandoned fossil fuels. It was found that in this way, Salaspils’ DH reduced the risks of tariff fluctuations for thermal energy in conditions of price shocks on energy markets. Future reductions in heating tariffs depend not so much on the use of solid biofuels as on the introduction of solar and geothermal energy. The local DH systems of the analyzed cities have successfully modernized their heating network infrastructure, reducing heat energy losses by approximately half. A common barrier to the modernization of local DH systems in both large and small cities is a significant share of outdated buildings, the improvement of which requires substantial capital investments. The conclusions obtained within the investigation can be used for planning the national and/or local strategies of DH modernization and renovation on market-based conditions, which are crucial tasks for 2025-2026.