Regulatory and Legal Challenges for District Energy Systems in Practice and Research

Abstract

In line with the objectives of the European Commission, local and sustainable energy systems are to be implemented. The energy supply sector is subject to strong regulation because of its critical and sensitive nature. Innovative ideas are often tested first in simulations and later in reality (living labs). In practice, there is a lack of clarity in the regulations and in the communication on how these goals are to be implemented. The objective of this paper is to explore how regulatory aspects can pose an uncertainty for the planning in this area. For this purpose, the current legal framework for local energy systems is examined using the example of a customer system. A qualitative potential analysis is carried out in terms of feasibility. A potential model could be presented, in which the regulatory layer limits the technical potential. It has been shown that regulation that is not clearly defined can represent uncertainty in the form of economic risk. If this uncertainty is too great, it limits the economic and thus the sustainable potential.