Connections to district heating in France have almost doubled in ten years but this growth remains “insufficient” for a heating method that emits less greenhouse gases and is 20 to 30% less expensive, according to the latest annual survey of the sector presented Tuesday.
Between 2012 and 2022, the number of buildings connected to heat networks recorded growth of 82%, indicates the study supervised by the Ministry of Energy Transition.
This means that 2.7 million homes (or 47,380 buildings) were served in 2022 with hot water and heating by one of these 946 heat networks (+48 compared to 2021). They now extend over 7,046 kilometers (+529 km), mainly in the Ile-de-France, Auvergne-Rhne-Alpes and Grand Est regions.
The poor relation of energy planning, heat networks consist of a plant which generates the heat and a network of pipes which bring this heat to the buildings. They are more advantageous for the user and more ecological: they integrate an increasing rate of renewable or recovered energy (66.5% in 2022) coming for example from the incineration of urban waste.
If their progression is undeniable, as well as that of the all too rare cold networks (1,563 buildings connected in 2022, +118 compared to 2021), it is imperative to accelerate, urges the study, carried out for the Federation of Energy and Environmental Services (Fedene ) and the association of communities Amorce.
We are observing an insufficient rate of creation of heat networks, she notes, recalling that France is at the bottom of the European table and is far from its own objectives, despite no less than 1,600 projects identified.
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