Lille - FRANCE
Resonor: the Lille heating network
From coal to cogeneration
On October 16, 1982, the municipal council of the northern French city of Lille decided to create an extensive district heating network equipped with a coal-fueled power plant. A company, Resonor, was created for this purpose, and in 1984 Dalkia was chosen to operate the entire network under a service concession (affermage) contract. New buildings were connected to the network in 1995. Between 1999 and 2003, the concerns of the various stakeholders (residents, subscribers, municipalities and companies) changed and there was a growing awareness of environmental issues, such as air quality and visual impacts.
The City decided to act locally and establish an Agenda 21 program. In addition, it wanted to see a reduction in heating bills, especially for the most underprivileged segments of the population. At the same time, the technologies and regulations were changing, opening the possibility, with government support, of installing cogeneration equipment on heating networks. The solution proposed by Dalkia and accepted by the City of Lille was to install a gas turbine and build a new gas boiler plant, in 2001.