Power-to-heat - How can it decarbonise district heating?

Decarbonising the heating and cooling sector is central to achieving the energy transition. This is recognised in the European Green Deal and the ‘Fit for 55’ package, as without increasing the share of renewables in this sector, our energy and climate targets cannot be achieved cost-effectively.Within the heating sector, district heating is proving particularly difficult to decarbonise, as district heating systems operate mostly on fossil fuels. However, some stakeholders argue that power-to-heat technologies could be a good solution, as they use renewable energy for heating.By converting electricity into heat, power-to-heat technologies have the potential to help raise the share of renewable energy in the district heating sector. Power-to-heat could be particularly important in large heating systems which, due to their high heat demand, and with a lack of local renewables, are the most difficult to decarbonise.Listen to this Euractiv Hybrid Conference to discuss the potential of power-to-heat technologies in decarbonising district heating. Questions to be discussed include:· How can power-to-heat help in reaching the objectives of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Directives?· What role can power-to-heat play in energy stabilisation? And what implications can this have on energy grids?· What are the next steps to support the necessary rollout of power-to-heat technologies in district heating?