Opportunities and challenges of opening the district heating networks – How to heat the future home?

In Finland there is an ongoing academic and political debate about third party access (TPA) and opening the district heating networks to competition. The subject has also been raised in the new EU Directive on Renewable Energy. The discussion paper of Finnish Energy (ET) describes from the viewpoint of the district heating sector how Finland is organising an efficient heating market now and in the future, and how the heating market is developed on market terms. The paper also describes what it means in practical terms to open up the districtheating networks by increasing regulation. We encourage our European colleagues and politicians to develop the heating market in the direction presented in the discussion paper.In Finland we have achieved exemplary results through development work.