From Pipe Dreams to Practical Reality: The Electrification of District Heating in Greater Copenhagen

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines the electrification of district heating in Greater Copenhagen, focusing on how key actors perceive the system’s future and which constraints hinder the scaling of electrified district heating. It adopts a qualitative single-case study design, drawing on interviews, recordings, and reports. The analysis is informed by Large Technical Systems theory, particularly the concept of reverse salients, and supplemented by the Multi-Level Perspective to contextualize the broader transition dynamics surrounding electrified district heating. The findings suggest that electrification is widely expected to increase, though not as a full replacement of the existing system. Instead, a more electrified yet still hybrid district heating system emerges as the dominant vision. This transition is constrained by several interconnected barriers, particularly electricity grid capacity, geospatial limitations in dense urban areas, investment uncertainty, and organizational fragmentation. The thesis concludes that electrification should be understood primarily as a wider system integration challenge rather than a simple technological substitution. Its findings have practical implications for policymakers, utilities, and planners, highlighting the need for closer alignment between electricity and heat planning, as well as more coordinated infrastructure siting, permitting, and investment processes.