Most heat consumers - 6 out of 10 - receive their heat from public heat supply. This is an area in which plants have been built and pipes laid in the ground to deliver hot water (or steam) - known as district heating (DH) - or natural gas to consumers.

HEATING DENMARK'S 2.5 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS

• Electric heat: 6%
• Oil: 18%
• Natural gas: 15%
• DH without electricity generation: 4%
• Co-generated heat and electricity in small and medium-sized cities: 17%
• Co-generated heat and electricity in large cities: 37%
• Heat pumps: 0.4%
• Solid fuel: 3%

DH is produced in heating plants or Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP). CHP produce both heat and electricity. Fuel consumption is thus reduced by about 30% as compared to the separate production of heat and electricity. The spread of co-generated heat and electricity has meant that most plants, which previously generated either heat or electricity, now produce both electricity and heat.

Public supply is primarily found in areas in which homes or businesses are in close proximity, that is, in cities and towns.

DISTRICT-HEATING SUPPLY: KEY FIGURES

• If all of the DH pipes were laid end to end, they would stretch for 50,000 kilometres
• In the last ten years, 400,000 new consumers were connected to the grid
• 60% of DH is delivered by the 55-60 largest DH plants (most are owned by local authorities)
• In 2007, the following fuels were used to produce DH:

  - Biomass: 41.1% (including 19.3% renewable wastes)

  - Natural gas: 26.4%

  - Coal: 22,4%

  - Oil: 4.6%

  - Wastes, non-renewable: 5.6%