Kozani, Western Macedonia, Greece Kozani is a municipality in the Region of Western Macedonia. The city is the commercial and scientific center of Western Macedonia with a vibrant life and a variety of cultural and social events. The city's location makes it a transport hub that connects Macedonia with Epirus through Egnatia Highway, while Albania and North Macedonia to the North and the Region of Thessaly to the South are also very well connected. Kozani offers an interesting combination of rich local folklore tradition – preserved by the local population – with modern infrastructure. The city of Kozani, which is the capital of the Region of Western Macedonia, is situated in the northern part of Aliakmonas River valley. The city lies 710 meters above sea level and has a continental climate, with hot summers and quite cold and long winter periods. The Regional Unit of Kozani is among the most prosperous areas of the Greek province, due to its lignite deposits and the related mining and power production activities; at its peak, the area produced approximately 70% of the total national electric power, being thus known as the “Heart of Energy” for the country! However, the operation of the mines and plants has caused severe environmental impact due to the ground, water and air pollution, resulting from the mining and thermal power activities in the area. Kozani is also well known for the production of its high quality Saffron, which is one of the most popular and valuable spices of the ancient cultures for its smell, color, medical and aphrodisiac properties. Saffron is planted every summer, and in the autumn, they hand-cut the precious flowers and carefully dry it to make the deep red color. It takes about 50,000 spots to produce 100 grams of red Saffron, which explains its high price and the interest of local population to maintain this agricultural activity. In terms of agriculture production, Kozani is also well known for its peach production of the area of Velvento. Finally, it is the home of the University of Western Macedonia, with more than 20,000 students in many Schools and Departments, covering topics such as Engineering, Business, Environment, Arts, etc. Kozani does not yet have a fully articulated decarbonisation strategy, but the last few years important steps have been made towards acquiring one. The increasing emissions fines for the production of electricity from old inefficient plants, using low quality lignite, have driven some plants to shut down permanently, while others have faced an important reduction of their operation. Overall, a combination of financial, technological and environmental factors are the driving factors behind a rapid decarbonisation of the energy industry and, consequently of the regional economy. In this framework, the Region of western Macedonia is one of the five pilot regions of the European Commission’ initiative “Coal Regions in transition” that attempts to define a Roadmap for the Regions phasing out from coal. The local actors and stakeholders are organising their steps to a greener future, with the support of EC and the World Bank. In this effort, Kozani plays a leading role, as the bigger city and the capital of the Region, as well as home to important institutions, such as the University of western Macedonia, the CERTH/CEPRI, the Cluster of Bioenergy and Environment etc. All these aims to define a strategy that will support a partial replacement of the production of energy by other, more sustainable resources, as well as a full replacement of the job and income losses due to the lignite industry decline. The Region of western Macedonia is home to 3 (out of 4 in total in Greece!) Municipal District Heating networks, therefore it has developed an important know-how in the field. The DH network in Kozani was constructed and is operated by the Municipal Enterprise for Water Supply and Sewage in Kozani (DEYAK). The network supplies not only the city of Kozani but also the settlements in the Counties of Nea Haravgi and the Active Urban Planning Zone of Ptolemaida. Since 1992, approximately 110 mil. euros have been invested in the DH of Kozani, which has been operating since 1994. The deferred peak load amounts to 137 MWth and the total received thermal power amounts to 222 MWth. The overall annual thermal load for consumers amounts to 357,655 MWh, while the heat losses are very low (4.8%). Thus, the total thermal load in the DH network amounts to 375,533 MWh annually. The selling price of thermal energy excluding VAT amounts to 38.50 €/MWh. The investments were funded by European programs, the Public Investment Program (PIP) and own resources of DEYAK, and they were used for the following: • The steam extraction facilities from units ΙΙΙ, ΙV and V of PPC's steam-electric power station Agios Dimitrios, with a power capacity of 137 MWth, which produce 70% of the thermal peak load and contribute 95% of the annual thermal energy generation. • The peak boiler house, with three 10MW boilers and two 27.5 MW boilers. The boilers, with a power capacity of 85 MWth, produce 40% of the thermal peak load and contribute 5% of the annual thermal energy generation. • Thermal energy storage facility, with a storage capacity of 1,650 m3 and a power capacity of 80 MWh. • The pump houses used for transportation and distribution. • The supply and distribution network, with a total pipe length that exceeds 450 km. According to DΕΥΑΚ5, based on PPC's planning, it is estimated that after 2020, only one system for hot water generation for DH will remain active at unit V of the steam- electric power station Agios Dimitrios. Therefore, the remaining heat load will have to be covered either by another PPC's unit or by other independent heat generation systems (boilers, CHP, etc.). Today, the district heating network, with a total length of about 500 kilometers, has about 5,500 buildings connected, and the total number of connected apartments reaches 28,000 with an overall thermal surface that exceeds 2,450,000 m2. All these years of operation of the system has been instrumental in upgrading and protecting the environment of our region, since more than 5,000 chimneys were removed, and 760,000 tons of CO2-carbon dioxide and 70 tons of suspended particles are not released to the atmosphere anymore. It also brings very significant economic benefits, as during its years of operation the connected citizens saved 216 million euros in total. The 110 million euros corresponds to the amount saved by the notarized price of district heating, which guarantees to be 25% lower than the price of heating oil. The remaining 106 million euros were saved because despite the fact that the price of heating oil went up and the discount rate was 25% higher, the price of district heating was kept constant (there has been no increase in the last 10 years). A total 587,000 m3 less heating oil was imported to our country, saving valuable currency. The value of the operation of the district heating in Kozani was further highlighted by the years of the economic crisis that our country is experiencing, as a result of which many parts of Greece are even deprived of their heating. During this period, the population in Kozani has never faced any significant issue with energy poverty, as district heating works consistently and efficiently. The DH system operates today in an automated and self-regulated way, based on consumer demand. For this reason, DEYAK has recently established two new auxiliary pump stations in the city that have been added to the other three existing ones, which greatly contributes to the better-balanced operation of the Kozani network. However, the envisaged decommissioning of the lignite fired power plants, which provide the thermal power to the District Heating network, calls for a fast response with short- and medium- term actions. DEYAK examines all potential scenarios of differentiating its energy mix: for this, bioenergy, solar thermal, heat pumps, waste heat to energy, energy efficiency improvement are part of the discussion which will be further intensified in the following years, in order to plan ahead the necessary steps. At the same time, financial support resources and knowledge exchange and know how with international partners also make part of the current agenda of the District Heating network operator of the City of Kozani. .