Support Facility - FAQs

Strategic heating and cooling planning requires know-how, resources and experience. However, not all municipalities are equally prepared for an energy transition. The Support Facility thus  provides the specific tools and assistance for municipalities to start, complete, or improve upon their district heating and cooling planning.

You can apply for the Support Facility via the application form on EUSurvey. The Call for Application is open on 2 May until 31 July 2023.

Applicants will be selected based on their ambition, interest, and needs. Once the relationship is established, clustered and individual advice will be given on planning, pre-feasibility, and finance.

The Support Facility covers all regions within the EU as well as other associated countries. Please find the list below: 

The Facility offers participation and direct support for two different sets of support modules. You can choose your preferred module in the application form. The modules are:

•  H&C transition strategy development
• Project Feasibility

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Candidates will receive a response shortly after submitting their application. In the case they applied for Support Facility 1: H&C transition strategy, they will also be contacted to set up a preliminary meeting based on their availability. 

It depends on the support activity objectives. Usually, given the Support Facility’s timespan, one person working part-time on it should be enough to complete the case study. Anyhow, during the collaboration agreement set up, these topics will be discussed and agreed upon, so that participants fully  understand what is expected from them.

In either of the two Support Facility modules, the only requirement when setting up the specific support activity is to know the location (municipality, neighborhood,...) of the area that needs to be analysed. The rest of the files/data required to carry out the case study could be either gathered or developed internally.

There is no technical expertise needed since participants will be trained in both tools (THERMOS and Hotmaps). However, having previous experience in the energy field could be useful. Also, familiarity with other designing tools, such as GIS, will also allow participants to exploit the Support Facility to a greater extent.

This is mainly decided by the participant since the Support Facility modules could be sped up depending on the participants deadline. However, the maximum length the support can last would be until participants from the next round are accepted, which are expected to happen every six months.