Historical Background

In Europe, there are many examples from the turn of the century when many buildings were heated from one central boiler or when one building received heat distributed by a pipe buried in the ground. Many of these examples of district heating in a technical sense were influenced by the growing district heating industry in the USA in the 1880's. In Sweden, the Sabbatsberg hospital in Stockholm is regarded as an example of an early technical district heating system. When the hospital was built in 1878, all buildings in the hospital area were heated from a common heat source.

Due to experiences of district heating in Germany and the USA , the possibilities of using district heating in Sweden in a more organized manner were investigated in several projects after the turn of the century. In 1909, a district heating system for a part of the Östermalm district in Stockholm was proposed by Hugo Theorell. A very negative attitude from the board of the Stockholm Gas and Electricity Authority stopped this first serious proposal for selling heat under commercial conditions in Sweden. A combined heat, electricity, and gas station in Norrköping was investigated in 1915. The project was accepted by the municipality of Norrköing, but failed due to financial problems . It became too difficult to raise the money for the project. In 1919, the conditions for district heating in Malmö were investigated in connection with a planned extension of the reserve steam power station belonging to the municipality of Malmö.

Another proposal for Stockholm was made by Lage Malm in his inaugural professorial lecture at the Royal Institute of Technology in 1940.

The strongest reason for not introducing district heating in Sweden before the Second World War was the national surplus of hydropower. Combined heat and power (CHP) generation was not possible, since thermal power was only used for peak loads and reserve capacity. In the late for ties , extended use of thermal power was discussed as the resources of hydropower began to be fully utilized. In the light of the future changing conditions for Swedish power generation, the first municipal district heating system was started at Karlstad in 1948. Further district heating systems were started at Norrköping and Malmö in l95l, Göteborg, Sundbyberg, and Stockholm in 1953, Linköping and Västerås in 1954, Örebro in 1956, and Borås in 1959.

All these district heating systems were planned and built for the purpose of utilizing heat from future CHP-plants. In these 10 pioneer towns, oil-fired CHP-plants were also built during the 50's and the 60's.

In order to promote and discuss issues of common interest, the Swedish District Heating Association was founded in 1949.

| Customers | District Heating in Sweden 1948-1990 |