Energy Policycast – Details, episodes & analysis

Energy Policycast's new season explores financing of district heating in the FinDH project. 

Subscribe here to follow the results being published in 2025.

The IEA DHC-supported project brings together researchers and experts from Energy Modelling Lab/Denmark, Euroheat & Power/Belgium, Halmstad University/Sweden, Lund University/Sweden and Steinbeis Transfer Center Sustainable Finance and Management/Germany.

IEA DHC: https://www.iea-dhc.org/the-research/annexes/annex-xiv/annex-xiv-project-03

Project website: https://www.euroheat.org/dhc/eu-projects/findh

Project lead: Daniel Møller Sneum/Energy Modelling Lab and Lund University daniel@energymodellinglab.com

LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8167401/

The podcasts and contents presented here are not official IEA DHC communication, but solely the responsibility of the project partners behind the FinDH project, based in the desire to share results. 

“Anything that exists is possible” as Boulding’s first law prescribes. I was wondering why, in some places of the world, district energy systems were very flexibly integrated with the electricity system – while in other parts, they were not. So I set out to explore the existence of flexible sector coupling.

This resulted in the study that is the focus of today’s episode.

Anyone working with sector coupling and flexibility may benefit from listening in – if they can bear a 30-minute talk by me. Or else, dig directly into the resources referenced below.

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Scientific paper - Barriers to flexibility in the district energy-electricity system interface – A taxonomy

Policy brief – Barriers to flexibility

Interactive version – Play around at your own pace

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The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder is highly recommendable, and has recently hosted an episode with me as a guest (the upside is TWO middle-aged men chatting, instead of just ONE in this episode…). So give it a listen as well!

The FlexSUS project has received funding in the framework of the joint programming initiative ERA-Net Smart Energy Systems’ focus initiative Integrated, Regional Energy Systems, with support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 775970.

Sound design by Dea Cisar.

Hosted and produced by Daniel Sneum, Sustainability Division, Technical University of Denmark - comments welcome @DistrictEnergyD.

Please rate + share with your colleagues, so we can get fresh research into new ears and brains!

Get dressed for the buzz on sector coupling with professors Brian Elmegaard and Marie Münster from Technical University of Denmark. 

We discuss our work on the white paper Sector Coupling: Concepts, State-of-the-art and Perspectives. The study was commissioned by the European Technology and Innovation Platforms on Smart Networks for Energy Transition - ETIP SNET.

Links to the topics discussed:  

• Numbers on electric storage (batteries) 8 GWh (IEA) - 12 GWh (Greentech Media). Danish pit thermal storages: 44 GWh heat (see White Paper).
• IEA Technology Collaboration Programme on Heat Pumping Technologies, HPT TCP, and Heat Pump Centre
• Podcasts
  • Radiolab
  • 99% invisible
  • The Productivity Show
• DTU Sector Coupling Report
• FlexHeat
• Daniel Møller Sneum's PhD thesis on barriers for flexibility of district energy systems
• FutureGas
• Living Like an Academic Athlete: How to Improve Clinical and Academic Productivity as a Gastroenterologist 
• The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping

Sound design by Dea Cisar.

Hosted and produced by Daniel Sneum, Sustainability Division, Technical University of Denmark

Which transmission architecture is the most beneficial to integrate large shares of renewable energy in the North Sea region? And what are the consequences of the planning horizon when planning such a system towards 2050? 

PhD researcher Juan Gea-Bermudez from DTU Management elaborates these questions in the study Optimal generation and transmission development of the North Sea region: impact of grid architecture and planning horizon. Co-authored with Lise-Lotte Pade, Matti Juhani Koivisto and Hans V. Ravn.

We discuss the projects Promotion, Flex4RES and NSON.

Sound design by Dea Cisar.

Hosted and produced by Daniel Sneum, Sustainability Division, Technical University of Denmark

After a small hiatus including finalisation of a PhD thesis and paternity leave, we're back with more informal and geeky discussions on energy policy, regulation, economics, systems and anything in between.

Stay tuned and share our podcast with you friends and colleagues.

Your host is Daniel Sneum, Sustainability Division at Technical University of Denmark - dasn@dtu.dk

Sound design: Dea Cisar

Research associate Holle Wlokas/Stellenbosch University presents her research on renewable energy in South Africa and beyond - including the TENTRANS project.

In the episode, Holle recommends this social performance podcast.

Illustration: The multi-talented Luigi Bottecchia

Host and producer: Daniel Sneum (dasn@dtu.dk)/DTU Management's Sustainability Division

Music: Raindrops by morgantj (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/24345

Senior researcher Lena Kitzing/DTU on AURES and AURES II.

In the episode, Lena recommends the New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Illustration: The multi-talented Luigi Bottecchia

Host and producer: Daniel Sneum (dasn@dtu.dk)/DTU Management's Sustainability Division

Music: Raindrops by morgantj (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/24345

Flex4RES leader Klaus Skytte/DTU on results in the pipeline.

Flex4RES - Shift - Negative CO2.

Illustration: The multi-talented Luigi Bottecchia

Host and producer: Daniel Sneum (dasn@dtu.dk)/DTU Management's Sustainability Division

Music: Raindrops by morgantj (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/24345

Prof. Peter Lund/Aalto University on the Flex4RES policy paper.

Illustration: The multi-talented Luigi Bottecchia

Host and producer: Daniel Sneum (dasn@dtu.dk)/DTU Management's Sustainability Division

Music: Raindrops by morgantj (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/24345

New study on power purchase agreements by Felipe Fausto/Flex4RES.

In the episode, Felipe recommends this work on PPAs.

Illustration: The multi-talented Luigi Bottecchia

Host and producer: Daniel Sneum (dasn@dtu.dk)/DTU Management's Sustainability Division

Music: Raindrops by morgantj (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/morgantj/24345