Development of renewables in the heat supply sector raises different issues. Today, renewables provide 10% of Europe’s primary energy demand for heat supply, the main contribution coming from the use of biomass. The lack of district heating networks is a severe structural barrier to the large scale utilisation of geothermal and solar thermal energy. Past experience shows that it is easier to implement effective support instruments in the gridconnected electricity sector than in the heat market, with its multitude of different actors. Dedicated support instruments are required to ensure a dynamic development.

In the Energy [R]evolution scenario, renewables provide 56% of EU-27’s total heating and cooling demand in 2050.

• Energy efficiency measures can decrease the current demand for heat supply by 10%, in spite of improving living standards.
• For direct heating, solar collectors, biomass/biogas as well as geothermal energy are increasingly substituting for fossil fuelfired systems.
• A shift from coal and oil to natural gas in the remaining conventional applications will lead to a further reduction of CO₂ emissions.