Fjärrvärmens konkurrenssituation : En studie av fjärrvärmens konkurrenskraft i Västerås

Sammanfattning: District heat is currently more exposed for competition than it has been for several years. Since the mid-1980s, district heat has dominated the heat market, but is now in a tougher competitive situation due to the increasing popularity of heat pumps. This, in combination with energy efficiency, has led to a stagnation of delivered energy. The purpose of the study is to investigate the district heating's current competitive situation in Västerås. This will be investigated based on pricing, performance and paragraphs. In order to get a comprehensive picture of the heat market and to find out what factors customers prioritize, housing companies, house makers and villa owners were interviewed. The study's results show that house owners prioritize delivery reliability, followed by economy and environment in the choice of heating method. Actors' views on pricing were different depending on the preferred heating method, where the different views were primarily about the operating and maintenance costs of heat pumps. In order to analyze pricing the life cycle cost was calculated on the basis of real cases. This was done by creating a calculation model in Excel. The result of pricing shows that district heating was the best option for all cases. However, from a new construction perspective, geothermal heat pump for small houses had similar life cycle cost as district heating, while district heating was superior in price for the larger houses. All cases when a customer had change from district heat to heat pumps were unprofitable due to the switching cost that arises. Performance was evaluated by the environmental impact and delivery reliability of the methods. The consequential life cycle assessment was used when calculating environmental impact. The result showed that the district heating in Västerås has a positive environmental impact because of the social benefits it provides. Heat pumps had a negative impact on the environment in all cases. The delivery reliability was studied through actors' views in combination with scientific research, which resulted in the view that district heating is better. The evaluation of paragraph was limited to Boverket’s building regulations. The competitive situation is currently skewed, where heat pumps have a big advantage as houses can limit their energy efficiency with heat pumps. The future of district heating in Västerås is bright. The challenge is to keep their market domination by maintaining a competitive price as the heat market is facing changes with reduced heat demand and tougher competition.