Excess heat is present in many sectors, and its utilization could reduce the primary energy use and emission of greenhouse gases. This work presents a geographical mapping of excess heat, in which excess heat from the industry and utility sector was distributed to specific geographical locations in Denmark. Based on this mapping, a systematic approach for identifying cases for the utilization of excess heat is proposed, considering the production of district heat and process heat, as well as power generation. The technical and economic feasibility of this approach was evaluated for six cases. Special focus was placed on the challenges for the connection of excess heat sources to heat users. To account for uncertainties in the model input, different methods were applied to determine the uncertainty of the results and the most important model parameters. The results show how the spatial mapping of excess heat sources can be used to identify their utilization potentials. The identified case studies show that it can be economically feasible to connect the heat sources to the public energy network or to use the heat to generate electricity. The uncertainty analysis suggests that the results are indicative and are particularly useful for a fast evaluation, comparison and prioritization of possible matches. The excess heat temperature and obtainable energy price were identified as the most important input parameters.

This study analyses the Ukrainian energy system in the context of the Paris Agreement and the need for the world to limit global warming to 1.5 °C. Despite ~84% of greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine being energy- and process-related, there is very limited academic literature analysing long-term development of the Ukrainian energy system. This study utilises the TIMES-Ukraine model of the whole Ukrainian energy system to address this knowledge gap and to analyse how the energy system may develop until 2050, taking into current and future policies. The results show the development of the Ukrainian energy system based on energy efficiency improvements, electrification and renewable energy. The share of renewables in electricity production is predicted to reach between 45% and 57% in 2050 in the main scenarios with moderate emission reduction ambitions and ~80% in the ambitious alternative scenarios. The cost-optimal solution includes reduction of space heating demand in buildings by 20% in frozen policy and 70% in other scenarios, while electrification of industries leads to reductions in energy intensity of 26–36% in all scenarios except frozen policy. Energy efficiency improvements and emission reductions in the transport sector are achieved through increased use of electricity from 2020 in all scenarios except frozen policy, reaching 40–51% in 2050. The stated policies present a cost-efficient alternative for keeping Ukraine’s greenhouse gas emissions at today’s level.