Eligibility and compliance assessment for district heating projects

Independent, expert verification of whether a district heating project meets the criteria that qualify it for public and EU funding.

Access to financing for the district heating transformation — from the RRF (the Polish Recovery Plan), the Modernisation Fund, the FEnIKS programme or national schemes — depends on meeting a complex set of technical, environmental and regulatory requirements. Determining whether a given project meets them requires both a precise command of EU regulation and an operational understanding of how a district heating system works.

Scope of verification

I verify the compliance of district heating projects with the requirements that qualify them for support, including:

• RRF / Recovery Plan criteria;
• the "do no significant harm" (DNSH) principle;
• the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER);
• the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the definition of an efficient district heating system;
• EU taxonomy criteria;
• and other requirements specific to the given financing instrument.

The result is a clear assessment — whether, and under what conditions, the project qualifies for support — together with an indication of risks and any gaps.

Who it is for

Financing institutions

Independent verification of projects submitted for financing: confirmation of compliance, identification of regulatory and technical risks, support for funding decisions.

Entities applying for support

A check of a project's eligibility before the application is submitted: an assessment of whether the project meets the criteria, and an indication of what needs to be completed before the documentation reaches the financing institution.

Why an independent assessment

Eligibility assessment is not a formality. It requires combining two perspectives that rarely go together: a precise knowledge of EU regulatory frameworks and an operational understanding of how a district heating system works. Three decades in the sector — from operating and managing systems to regulatory advisory — allow me to assess a project the way the financing institution will.

How the work proceeds

Analysis of the project documentation, verification against the relevant criteria, and a report with a clear conclusion and an indication of risks. The scope and form of the assessment are agreed individually.

Do you have a district heating project to assess or verify? Get in touch: krzysztof@skowronski.eu