District heating & district cooling

Ramboll is a leading district heating consultancy with 40 years of experience from projects in Denmark and more than 25 other countries. Our services encompass all stages of planning, design, operation, maintenance and management, and include technical, institutional, legal as well as economic aspects. In recent years, we have also actively engaged ourselves in several district cooling projects.

As cities aim to be carbon neutral, district heating and cooling systems become more important than ever. Our international market for these services is growing, not least due to growing concern with climate change.

Our district heating and cooling departments work closely together with our departments for waste-to-energy, CHP, renewable energy and building installations to provide optimal use of heating and cooling sources.

District heating water

A city-wide, low-temperature district heating system is key to any low-carbon city. The system is cost-effective and uses efficient, carbon neutral heat sources that would otherwise be wasted, such as that from CHP plants with heat accumulators, waste-to-energy plants, geothermal plants, biomass boilers, large-scale heat pumps and large-scale solar heating plants.

Even for small settlements, district heating with thermal storage can be the key component of the most intelligent, cost-effective and carbon neutral heating for both existing and new buildings.

District heating steam and super-heated water

A special system for district heating, based on super-heated water or steam, is used mainly for industrial processes, but also in some cities and hospitals. Ramboll has extensive experience with these systems, including the design of pipe systems with a proven lifetime of more than 50 years. We also have experience in transforming these systems into more efficient, low-temperature systems.

District cooling

Decentralised electric chillers in district cooling systems can often be replaced by less expensive systems that use cold seawater, groundwater or carbon-free thermal energy. Our experience in district cooling includes chilled water storage, district heating absorption heat pumps and decentralized cooling plants based on solar heating.

Heating installations in buildings

The efficiency of a city-wide heating system depends on its integration with low-temperature heating systems in buildings. We provide our customers with expertise in the design and operation of all facilities in the system, including building installations.