A Public Self-Assessment Platform for Power-to-Heat Integration in District Heating: Multidisciplinary Support for Early Decision-Making
This paper presents a public web platform designed to support municipalities and district heating operators in the early planning of large-scale heat pump integration, based on a multidisciplinary methodology combining social science, energy engineering and numerical simulation approaches, calibrated specifically for the Czech district heating landscape to accelerate the energy transition in this region. The platform combines a readiness self-assessment, which helps users identify initial organisational, financial and technical conditions affecting feasibility, with a techno-economic screening tool based on more than 45 000 pre-simulated annual scenarios. Using a small set of inputs, the tool provides estimates of heat pump utilisation, seasonal efficiency, production costs, emissions and indicative investment outcomes. The approach links governance context with realistic operational performance, offering transparent, easy-to-use analysis as a first step before detailed engineering studies. By enabling rapid screening and supporting structured dialogue between municipal authorities and heat suppliers, the platform helps build local capacity and guides users toward viable integration pathways under typical Czech district heating conditions.