The project aims to link two district heating systems together across the national borders and the strait between Sweden and Denmark. The large scale use of district heating is well established in both Sweden and Denmark and contributes with a large portion of the heating supply. District heating are in many cases considered as the sustainable solution for the large scale distribution of renewable energy.

The project intends to investigate the economic, technical, legal and environmental feasibility of this connection and how it can be executed. A feasibility study was made in 1998 but showed that the connection was not economically feasible. Since then the circumstances have changed with increased environmental awareness, increased energy prices and ambitious national and EU objectives. The new circumstances are most probably provide the conditions for a feasible implementation today.

The primary production of heat in Sweden is based on 100% renewable energy and is complemented with fossil fuel during the highest peaks. The primary production in Denmark comes from about 15% renewable sources. An international interconnection of the energy systems would allow for better storage capacities and utilization of both systems. Larger storage capacities would allow for more integrated small-scale renewable energy production sites and thus complementing the systems with more renewable energy.

Connecting two different countries to the same distribution system will initiate the cooperation between different energy companies. This will in the first phase contribute to work opportunities with new infrastructure and technical and legal issues. In the future it is also probable that this could provide the foundation for more integrated small-scale energy systems to get provision for their surplus in energy production.

In order to accomplish the connection, some issues must be investigated and solved. The economic issues must be investigated, such as that the heat will be traded on two different markets and the installation costs in relation to the revenues. Technical issues that has to be investigated are for example how the installation can be integrated with the future development of a transport tunnel (HH-connection) between the cities. There are also important legal issues that must be solved, for example to tackle the legislation on transporting water over national borders and to markets with different aspects.

If the project results show that an interconnection of the district heating systems is favourable from all or most points of view, the project will in the future contribute to a more energy efficient heating system, more renewable energy, a larger energy market, larger storage capacities and an increased competition and growth for other large and small-scale energy suppliers, as well as related technical suppliers. Through this project Öresundskraft and Forsyning Helsingør aims to increase the cooperation over the national borders for a sustainable and innovative use and development of natural resources.