[DREAL ARA] Heat and cold network: distribution infrastructure in 2017 for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

A heat network — also known as district heating — is an installation that distributes heat produced by one or more boilers to several users via a set of heat transport pipes (hot water pipes) and exchangers (also known as substations). The heat distributed is mainly used for heating and domestic hot water in buildings; some networks also provide heat for industrial use. The principle is the same for a cold grid, which functions as a reverse heat network (instead of providing heat to buildings, the cooling network takes it). These systems are strongly mobilising renewable energy and recovery (more than half of their energy mix), and are therefore in full development, in particular to achieve the objective of multiplying by 5 the amount of renewable heat delivered by the networks by 2030 provided for by the Energy Transition Law. The state of play of existing networks, coupled with the heat/cold demand of the buildings, allows the best project to be planned for 2030. The state of play of the heating and cooling networks in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AURA) is based on a survey of local authorities, trade unions, operators and the cross-fertilisation of different data sources (national survey, published energy-climate data, ViaSèva directory, dedicated network sites...), in 2016-2017. The data collected for each network identified in AURA, i.e. 252 heat networks, 3 cooling networks and 6 planned networks, are published in tabular form, together with their sources. Cerema also collected and digitised the tracks of 96 networks, published and distributed in GIS format.