The Racconigi district heating network (DHN), operational since 2012, was developed from a 2010 project with the objective of delivering efficient and low-carbon heat to the local community. The system primarily serves public and residential buildings and today supplies 114 connected users, corresponding to approximately 5,600 equivalent inhabitants.

The network extends over 12 km and delivers around 9.4 GWh of thermal energy annually, avoiding approximately 924 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year. Of the connected users, 85 are residential co-ownerships, 24 are public buildings, and 5 are commercial buildings.
The plant’s production mix combines high-efficiency cogeneration with renewable and recovered heat sources. In 2021, a 147 kW heat pump was installed to recover waste heat from the cogeneration unit, further improving overall system efficiency.

In addition, the site integrates a solar district heating (SDH) system consisting of 1,029 m² of High Vacuum Flat Plate (HVFP) solar thermal collectors with a peak capacity of 0.7 MWₜ. The solar field is directly connected to a 350 m³ thermal storage tank, supplying hot water at 75°C. The system generates approximately 920 MWh of renewable heat annually, saving around 122,000 m³ of natural gas and avoiding an additional 240 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year.

The Racconigi demonstration site represents a concrete example of how existing DH infrastructure can be progressively decarbonized through sector integration, heat recovery, and solar thermal technologies.