The Danish Minister of Taxation, Karsten Lauritzen, visited ROCKWOOL headquarters in Hedehusene, Denmark today to discuss a legislative proposal to change the tax treatment of “surplus heat” sold to district heating plants from manufacturing facilities.
Under the current arrangement, companies like ROCKWOOL can capture and sell surplus heat to district heating plants. The district heating plants save money by getting a cheaper source of heat than other alternatives, which leads to citizens receiving lower energy bills and a lot less CO2 entering the atmosphere.
“ROCKWOOL has for many years provided surplus heat to the districts surrounding our two Danish factories in Doense and Vamdrup, with 1,500 households receiving heat from these sources. As the current setup is now, everyone wins”, says ROCKWOOL Group CEO Jens Birgersson.
“As we invest more money in these factories, our current plans will enable us to supply heating to an additional 1,600 homes. Our request to the Minister is simply that any new proposal measure up to the widespread benefits provided by the current one and not create barriers to more sustainable heating options like these”.
According to the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI Energi), if all the surplus heat generated from Danish industry was captured by district heating systems it would provide enough heat for 128,000 homes and reduce CO2 emissions by 600,000 tonnes per year.
