The Act!onHeat Support Facility provides advice on planning, pre-feasibility and finance to accelerate the transition to a low carbon energy system. Free, strategic support is available for energy planners to establish or improve heating and cooling infrastructure through a European-wide ‘Support Facility’.

Applications are open to anyone working on behalf of local authorities in energy planning, from local council energy teams to individual consultants.

Act!onHeat is an EU-funded project that will accelerate the take-up of strategic heating and cooling – such as low or zero-carbon district heating systems – in order to dramatically reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Support is being offered to energy planners because few councils or municipalities possess the know-how, resources or experience necessary to plan heating and cooling developments which are large, complex and expensive undertakings. The new Act!onHeat Support Facility will offer this, with the help of specific tools like Hotmaps and THERMOS.

Applicants will be selected based on their ambition, interest, and needs. Individual advice will be given on planning and pre-feasibility studies, with selected projects then receiving financial guidance.

The 2024 call for applications is now open.

Applications will be considered on a first-come, first-served rolling basis, so applying early is advised. The availability of spaces is dependent on the capacity of partner organisations.

Act!onHeat Support Facility

Since its launch in March 2022, the Support Facility has been actively guiding energy planners from municipalities across Europe. Examples of support services include: the development of guidelines in tendering services for H&C planning; targeted support on dealing with data, e.g. how to set up a cadastre for industrial excess heat; and in-depth analysis on an Act!onHeat case study on setting up a business case for the development of a district heating network.

Act!onHeat Support Facility participant LEA Hessen (Germany) provides their experience with the Facility, “We began working together with Act!onHeat this summer via a workshop with Hessen municipalities interested in developing a local heating plan. Act!onHeat representatives provided their expertise to the municipalities, giving them a starting point and orientation in their planning.”

Building H&C strategic plans through advice and tools provided by ActionHeat,  the municipality of Zelzate (Belgium), via research conducted within the Support Facility, received a best approach scenario on how Zelzate can heat the highest total number of connected buildings, while still being financial feasible.

CSE’s Martin Holley said: “Transforming how we produce and use energy requires action at a massive scale and depth. It needs to come from government policy, industry practice, local authorities and communities. Low or zero-carbon district heating systems have a critical role to play, and the Support Facility will enable more municipalities to play their part. Act!onHeat offers several ways for energy planners to engage and benefit, but most of all provides concrete support opportunities for them to realize their low-carbon heating and cooling plans.”

Find out more

Find out more at ActionHeat.eu. For specific questions on the Support Facility or the Act!onHeat project in general, contact info@actionheat.eu.

The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) is a partner in Act!onHeat, along with Fraunhofer Institute, eclareon GmbH, TU Wien, Creara, e-think and ICLEI Europe.