Reasons why District Heating Systems were not extended in Spain

Abstract

The influence of urban infrastructures in city planning is obvious. However, among all types of systems, those that are destined to supply thermal energy to the cities, there is no tradition in design and development in Spain, contrary to what happens in the United States or in other countries in Europe. From a technical point of view, these systems present a proven effectiveness in countries with more than one hundred years of experience using these infrastructures. They have an efficiency of up to forty per cent higher compared to other isolated systems of energy production, implicating better fuel management with a consequent reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Regarding the social implications, they present great advantages such as lower maintenance costs, avoid the problems of heat outage, or risks of individual explosions or accidents. But above everything, they improve the urban air quality in many towns, since local boilers and high chimneys are replaced for single heat generation plants. So, why this type of infrastructures has not had in Spain the same development as in other countries if the benefits seem clear as mentioned above?