NO. 8 / 2022
INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE ON DISTRICT HEATING AND COOLING
DISTRICT HEATING AND THE
GROWING
MARKETS
Sign up
to receive
Hot Cool
Contents
WANT
BETTER
DISTRICT
HEATING
NETWORKS?
L
E
DISTRICT HEATING
AND
THE GROWING MARKETS
FOCUS:
5
DESIGN OF BASE LOAD HEAT SOURCES
IN DISTRICT HEATING NETWORKS
By John Tang Jensen
Feedback from our 2019
Conference
HYDROGEN IS HOT
– VERY HOT
8
Adriana:
made
By Morten What
Jordt Duedahl
me laugh was to see
how
uncomfortable
the room was at the beginning
of the session
with the drag
DISCOVERING
HOT WATER
queens. WeBywere
like 'oh, this
Giuliaall
Spirito
is so weird...' And I was sitting
next to people that I'm negotiating with or consultants that I
work with and we were all like
'aaah....this is not what we do...".
And as time went by, things just
changed. People embraced it
and were designing their dolls…
T
4
COLUMN
IT'S TIME TO CHANGE
OUR NARRATIVE!
By Anton Koller
13
14
MEMBER COMPANY PROFILE:
BWSC
By Alain Ruiz
HEAT 4.0
– DIGITIZATION CREATES MEASURABLE EFFICIENCY
RESULTS IN THE DISTRICT HEATING SECTOR
By Alfred Heller, Eva Lange Rasmussen, Per Sieverts Nielsen,
and Henrik Madsen
10
Lina: ...there was dancing…
Adriana: …dancing - that made
me laugh a lot! We were just so
awkward and out of our comfort space as soon as we had to
do something with glitter and
glue and paper!
The data suggests diversity correlates with better financial performance.
Likelihood of financial performance above national industri median, by diversity quartile, %
Ethic diversity
58
Top quartile
Bottom quartile
43
+35%
Gender diversity
54
Top quartile
47
Bottom quartile
+15%
Gender and ethic diversity combined
53
Top quartile
40
All other quartiles
+25%
Source: McKinsey Diversity Database
DBDH
Stæhr Johansens Vej 38
DK-2000 Frederiksberg
Phone +45 8893 9150
info@dbdh.dk
www.dbdh.dk
Editor-in-Chief:
Lars Gullev, VEKS
Total circulation:
5.000 copies in 74 countries
10 times per year
Coordinating Editor:
https://www.districtheatingdivas.com/
Linda Bertelsen,
DBDH
ISSN 0904 9681
lb@dbdh.dk
Grafisk layout
Kåre Roager,
kaare@68design.dk
Have you prepared
your district heating
network for expansion?
Avoid expansion challenges by using accurate data
District heating networks will experience significant changes
in the coming years. Increase in the use of renewable energy
and expansion of your network will make it necessary to
have accurate data. With Kamstrup’s Heat Intelligence,
you’ll get usable insights which lead to fewer challenges.
The visualisation tool allows you to view exact data on
temperature, flow, and pressure, making it possible to
target optimisation efforts.
Read more on kamstrup.com
At EU level, the heat pump industry has just started a campaign calling for a “heat pump
accelerator”, the hydrogen industry already has one, and now Euroheat and Power has
also published its 10-point paper about district energy.
By Anton Koller, Divisional President District
Energy & Buildings and Leanheat Software
Suite, Danfoss Climate Solutions
Will district energy get the same kind of attention as heat
pumps and hydrogen? As a matter of fact, we have an amazing story to tell – a story that holds the key to quite a few of the
energy and climate problems that Europe is struggling with
right now. But district energy is still perceived by many as a way
of locking in fossil fuels as the heat fed into the grid is often a
“byproduct” of coal powerplants and the likes, leaving a bad
aftertaste. High time to change the narrative … and, wherever
possible, the type of heat we use!
cases electrically powered, and that electricity will be increasingly based on renewables, that way we will use these resources much more efficiently. Adding a heat pump dots the I’s and
crosses the T’s – allowing to achieve the required temperatures
in a highly energy efficient way. And with artificial intelligence
we can further optimize the process. Will this make a difference to address the energy crisis? No doubt.
Let’s have a quick look at the numbers in Europe. Heating
and cooling represent half of the total final energy consumption. Roughly 80% is still based on fossil fuels, most of them imported. And unsurprisingly, most of Europe’s greenhouse gas
emissions are related to energy production and consumption.
Meaning that we must address heating and cooling as a top
priority. How? Significantly stepping up the share of renewable energies is indispensable. The International Energy Agency
(IEA), for example, found that at global level, the share of renewables both in electricity and in final use needs to at least
double until 2030 compared to 2019. Who says more renewables, says higher need for operational flexibility and thermal
storage. Can we help with district energy? You bet.
So what? I guess, we should not waste our time by enviously
glancing at other technologies such as heat pumps and the
political attention they are now receiving. And rightly so. The
challenge to decarbonize heating is massive and heat pumps
are an essential part of the puzzle to solve the energy and climate crisis. What we should do, though, is to reposition district
energy in a much more modern and proactive way. It’s not this
thing from the past, powered by dirty fossil fuels. Rather, it is
the solution to transition to renewable energies and use our
resources much more efficiently. We also need to get much
better in working with local decision makers. It’s one (important) thing to get the overarching framework right in Brussels,
but it’s at least as important to make the local decision makers
such as for example our mayors aware of the benefits that district energy provides to citizens.
Coming back on the heat we use. Does it have to be the excess
heat of coal powerplants? Absolutely not. Rather, we have the
luxury to be able to use many different heat sources. Let’s take
the example of cooling. There are many facilities that heavily rely on cooling, therefore systematically generating excess
heat from the cooling process. I am thinking of datacenters,
supermarkets, hospitals to only name a few. Today, this heat
is in most of the cases “wasted”. But it does not have to be like
that. We should use it, either on site, directly, or by feeding it
into a district energy network – thereby reducing the need to
generate heat. This is not only energy efficient, but even more
so resource efficient! Given that the cooling process is in most
Take the example of Sonderborg - city on Als in the southern
part of Denmark - which has committed to decarbonize its
energy system by 2029. Local decision makers set up “project
zero”, bringing on board all relevant stakeholders in town. A
plan was made back in 2007, mapping among others heat
sources and heat demand. Meanwhile GHG emissions have
already been more than halved. Today, we have a fully integrated energy system in Sonderborg which is based on three
pillars: energy efficiency, renewable energies and recovery and
reuse of excess heat – with district energy being a central part
of the solution. Now, if that’s not highly attractive, I wonder
what else is?
4
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
Design of base load
heat sources
in District Heating
networks
By John Tang Jensen, BEIS
By expanding district heating
networks, building transmission
lines, and intelligent design of heat
sources in combination with heat
storages fitting to heat demand
profiles, it is possible to use waste
heat sources 100%. This way, you
can avoid losses, get peak load
heat demand covered by nonfossil solutions, keep affordable
heat prices, and deliver a supply of
security to heat consumers, all at
the same time.
This article explores how heat sources should be designed for
the next generation of district heating networks and how this
will benefit consumers and society.
Originally district heating heat source design
When buildings in an urban zone are designated to be supplied from district heating networks, the heat sources commonly are chosen and designed to cover demand and deliver
security of supply. It is also designated to deliver low or zero carbon emissions and ensure affordable heat prices by combining
heat sources and technologies suitable for different purposes.
Heat sources for district heating were originally mainly based
on the waste heat from power production in CHP plants, heat
from waste incineration, and in some cases, waste heat from
industrial production plants. In most cases, the heat sources
existed, and the possible heat delivery was higher than the
demand in the district heating network being built for using
these waste heat sources. Figure 1 shows the combination of
waste heat and the needed reserve capacity that district heating networks need to cover the waste CHP supply when this
unit is stopped for maintenance or if it falls out.
The baseload waste heat source can supply all heat in the district heating system, and reserve capacity is only built to ensure
www.dbdh.dk
5
Capacity MW
Heat sources
Capacity MW
Heat sources
200 %
0 - 2 % of production
Reserve load
100 %
Around 5 - 15 % of production
98 - 100 % of production
Peak and
reserve load
Around 85 - 95 % of production
100 %
Base load capacity
50 %
Base load capacity
Heat demand
50 %
Heat demand
Annual days
0
365
Annual days
0
365
Figure 1:
Duration curve heat demand – ranked from coldest day
Figure 2
Increased delivery and decreased heat loss
the security of supply. The area below the red line and blue
shaded area shows the actual delivery of heat covering 98 –
100% of heat demand in the district heating network.
the lost heat in figure 1 can be delivered to consumers without
additional investment in production capacity. Figure 2 shows
an example of a design where the supply loss is reduced by
expanding heat networks.
The blue shaded area shows how much more heat the waste
heat source could deliver by the installed capacity if delivering
is constant at full capacity. The shaded area can easily be up to
half the possible heat delivery. If a heat supplier needs to produce power, incinerate waste, or produce industrial goods,
the waste heat in the grey-shaded area will be lost, which is
not an issue if the price for power, waste, or goods covers
costs. The only problem may be the lost energy, which could
have been used to reduce carbon emissions and save
resources elsewhere in the energy system.
Suppose the power plant, the waste incineration plant, or the
industrial plant, due to competition, are getting dependent on
the income from heat. In that case, the symbiosis between district heat networks and waste heat suppliers may not work the
same way anymore. The heat supplier may need to stop production when heat demand is not present, for example, in the
summertime. This can be an issue for CHP plants and waste
incineration plants, losing the ability to compete on electricity
or municipal waste prices if heat cannot be sold. The district
heating network company then may not have a reliable and
constant baseload supply anymore. This issue can be solved,
and the solutions are discussed in the next sections.
Adjusted original heat source design
In most urban areas, district heating networks are not covering
all buildings, and some areas may be industrial, using natural
gas, which could be replaced by district heating. There may
be block-centrals or nearby district heating networks based on
boilers or other more expensive heat sources. Heat sales will
increase if the district heating network can expand the covered area by connecting more consumers and/or establishing
a transmission line to neighbouring networks. Then a part of
6
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
The base load capacity, in this case, delivers between 50% and
80% of capacity (MW) but up to 95% of the total heat demand
(MWh). The share can vary greatly from plant to plant and depends on local conditions and available heat sources. Compared to the previous example shown in figure 1, the potential
heat loss shown in the blue shaded area is reduced by 40% to
70%, depending on the heat demand profile.
This design is very common today. The heat loss is often reduced further if the heat source is a fossil fuel-based CHP plant,
not necessarily needing to produce when the electricity price
is low and heat demand also is low in the summertime. It often
can be beneficial to add a heat storage system making it possible to produce the heat according to electricity prices making
electricity production independent of heat demand simultaneously. The storage also decreases the need for reserve and
peak load heat capacity. It reduces the fuels used for reserve
and peak load, which can be important due to low carbon requirements, and to avoid using expensive fuels like oil and gas
for peak load purposes.
The blue shaded loss in figure 2 will be more difficult to remove if the waste heat source is constantly producing – from
waste incineration plants or from industries.
Design future heat source supply system
The constant running baseload heat capacity needs to be reduced or constructed to around 45% to 55% of the total peakload heat capacity demand to reduce the blue-shaded loss
shown in figure 2 to a very low level. Suppose tap water heating uses 25% of production year-round and heat loss in the
network, for example, is 20%. In that case, the lowest capacity
Capacity MW
Heat sources
Around 2 - 5 % of production
100 %
technologies can ensure low heat prices because the technology getting more expensive by increasing prices can be turned
down and other technologies turned up
Peak load/
Reserve capacity
Around 10 - 45 % of production
Around 50 - 85 %
of production
(Middle load
capacity)
50 %
Base load capacity
Annual days
0
365
Figure 3
Base load heat source design according to capacity demand
demand in the summertime will be around 45% of the total
demand, which should be the lowest designing point for base
load heat sources. Often it can be beneficial to design the base
load capacity a little higher, significantly if a storage system can
absorb some of the extra waste heat. Figure 3 shows a situation
where the base load covers 55% of peak load heat demand.
When the base load capacity is 55% (MW), the share of heat
delivered heat would be around 70% of demand (MWh). Potential heat loss if the base load source needs to run constantly
is reduced to a very low level. The original heat source design
will not be able to deliver all heat demand in the wintertime if
the target is to use peak load source as little as possible.
The heat source design then needs a low carbon “middle
load” source to deliver heat in the wintertime. This can be a
heat pump using air, other ambient sources, or low-grade heat
waste heat from infrastructure sources - municipal wastewater
treatment, water systems, Transformers, underground trains,
gas compressors, mines, etc. - or allowed biofuels. The choice
of middle load technology should complement the base load
technology or at least not be dependent on the same fuel. If
baseload technology is CHP-dependent on high electricity
prices, it would be a good choice to choose a middle-load technology dependent on low electricity prices, like heat pumps
using ambient or low-grade waste infrastructure heat sources.
The capacity of these middle-load technologies can be higher
than the expected 40%, as shown in figure 3 if higher, the middle load capacity can deliver peak low capacity and additionally be able to deliver reserve load capacity for the base load
unit. This way, it can reduce fossil peak load capacity to zero.
It additionally can be recommended to design these middle
load source technologies in combination, maybe both having
a heat source using a heat pump, a waste heat source, and/or
a biomass boiler. If the power system needs power capacity,
even CHP solutions could be considered. The combination of
Design of new district heating networks
Two main approaches can be considered when designing new
networks and heat sources for new networks.
If a large existing waste heat source is already available, it would
be convenient to start delivery from this source the same way
as the original heat source design. Focus should then be on expanding the heat network until the heat source design needs
to be adjusted and supplemented with middle load sources.
In the network expanding phase, the chosen reserve load technologies should be suitable for middle load and, in the beginning, maybe only used for peak and reserve load purposes. In
the end, the heat network demand may reach a level having
a heat source design like the future design shown in figure 3.
If no large existing waste heat source is available from the beginning, another approach may be better and recommendable. Often it takes time to get consumers connected in new
networks, and it can then be recommended to start up with
the middle load technologies, also providing base load capacity when the heat network is being built. This gives time
to find a better high-grade waste base load technology that
can take over with full capacity from finished construction a
little later. This will make base load suppliers get the expected
sales and revenue from the beginning. If no waste heat sources
are available for base load in the new network area, this way
of designing heat sources gives time to attract, for example, a
new waste incineration plant to an area or to attract data centres, hydrogen production plants, Power-to-X, all wanting to
run constantly and deliver full load heat capacity. Especially for
waste incineration plants and large, continually running waste
heat suppliers, high heat delivery is essential and can trigger
incentives for establishing solutions for delivering waste heat.
The feasibility simply gets better when supply can be expected full-time, and no heat is wasted like the blue shaded areas
shown in figures 1 and 2.
The middle load technologies, which were delivering all heat
from the start, will now be able to deliver heat in the wintertime, deliver flexibility to the electricity system if based on electricity and/or CHP, and ensure low heat prices. This is because
the production can be changed according to electricity and
fuel prices. If a heating system is constructed the right way, including heat storage, it will work the same as a battery, which
can be very valuable for society and the electricity system saving capacity and balancing costs.
For further information please contact:
John Tang Jensen, JohnTang.Jensen@beis.gov.uk
www.dbdh.dk
7
Hydrogen is hot
– very hot
You risk being very disappointed with this podcast. If you think
buildings should be heated with hydrogen or believe that hydrogen is not an essential part of the future energy system, rest
assured to be disappointed. Here you will listen to two experts
talking about how the production of hydrogen, CCS, and PtX
can become an important source of surplus heat for city-wide
district heating systems. They even say it can revolutionize the
district heating sector the way CHP did – and still does.
First, all three of us agree that hydrogen looks like the only real
option for the hard-to-decarbonize sectors – like heavy industry and transport. Oddgeir Gudmundsson then introduces his
idea of blue district heating – to be able to compare the energy
efficiency of heating buildings and to compare to blue hydrogen. And you will see that district heating always wins!
I´m glad to be back after giving my favourite chair to Charlotte
Owen, who hosted our diversity podcast. Definitely worth a
listen if you care the least about diversity in our industry. But
now I’m back with two top experts Jørgen Nielsen, chairman of
DBDH and managing director of VEKS, and probably the only
one who actually has a district heating system that harvests
surplus heat from (or, as he says, provides a cooling service to)
a manufacturer of hydrogen. In the other chair, you will find
Oddgeir Gudmundsson, who has looked deep into many aspects of district heating and has made new ways to compare
DH and hydrogen – our scientist here!
The two experts also discuss how cities and nations should
plan in the best way to be both carbon-neutral and as energy
efficient as possible. And argue that even cities with no district
heating should be careful to find ways to reap the benefits of
hydrogen. The answer is to ensure the future city infrastructure
is well with district heating.
It is fair to conclude from our talks that the district heating sector should welcome the hydrogen sector 100%. We can support the H2 industry with an improved economy and better
performance.
But hydrogen should not be used to heat buildings – that is never directly. But very much so indirectly through district heating.
The demand for hydrogen will be enormous in the future – let’s
use it in the right and most energy-efficient way.
Listen in, get all the details, and find us on LinkedIn to discuss
this highly relevant topic.
Welcome to DBDHs district heating podcasts.
In this series of podcasts, we invite experts from the
industry to highlight important and current developments
in our industry.
The goal is to share knowledge, to inspire and maybe also to
provoke a bit – to give insights. And I always ask the experts to
share one recommendation each.
This is the DBDH district heating podcast,
and your host is Morten Jordt Duedahl.
8
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
"It is fair to conclude from our talks that the district heating
sector should welcome the hydrogen sector 100%.
We can support the H2 industry with an improved economy
and better performance.
But..."
Meet the experts
Jørgen Nielsen,,
Oddgeir Gudmundsson,
managing Director at TVIS
director, Danfoss Climate Solutions – DBL-AP
Member’s profile at DBDH
Member’s profile at DBDH
TVIS is a heat transmission company in Jutland,
based in Fredericia.
26 employees
Heat sale – 2.000.000 MWh/Year
Sixty stations with heat exchangers, pump stations,
etc.
123 km main pipe trace from Vejle in the north to
Kolding in the south
Holding a Ph.D. degree in engineering, Oddgeir has
been working with district energy within Danfoss since
2012. He holds a global role ranging from new market
development, project development, system and concept analyses, knowledge transfers between markets
and sectors, and participation in international research
projects. Oddgeir advocates for district energy as a sustainable and future-proof solution for urban thermal
demands.
Founded in 1933, family-owned Danfoss has 42.000
employees in a global operation. Danfoss delivers an
extensive range of products and solutions across its
business segments: Danfoss Climate Solutions, Danfoss Drives, and Danfoss Power Solutions.
Podcast links:
Apple Podcasts Connect
Google Podcasts for Android
Spotify
RSS.COM
www.dbdh.dk
9
DISCOVERING
HOT WATER
In Italy, the expression “scoprire l’acqua calda,” if literally translated into English, stands for
“discovering hot water.” It means that what you just discovered is nothing new; indeed,
it is pretty obvious. District heating is nothing more than a network of pipes distributing
hot water. So, I thought that “scoprire l’acqua calda” could be a funny expression to stress
this article’s aim: to inspire you, dear readers, and make you aware of the benefits this
technology can bring in a global context. A novel, replicable methodology for assessing
district heating potential will be presented.
By Giulia Spirito, PhD Student at the Energy Department of Politecnico di Milano, Italy
The novel methodology has been developed in a project funded by AIRU, the Italian District Heating Association. It was conducted by the research group “ReLab” of Politecnico di Milano
and by Politecnico di Torino.
clusters of heat demand are generated. They identify areas
where the heat demand is high and very dense and, thus,
where DH is expected to be feasible. The distribution network’s length and topology are estimated in each cluster, so
that heat losses and costs related to the heat distribution can
be computed. In step 3, the available heat sources are identified, and the amount of recoverable heat is estimated. At this
point, the transmission network connecting sources and heat
demand cluster can also be designed in step 4. In step 4a, a
triangulation algorithm generates the energy graph in which
all the previously identified heat demand and heat sources are
connected. Step 4b uses a routing algorithm to turn the linear
connection into paths along the streets. In this way, more realistic costs associated with the transmission network can be
estimated and considered in the ultimate step, step 5. Here,
an optimization algorithm is applied to identify, for each cluster, what is the most economically feasible heating technology
among DH and the individual solutions. The strength of this
method, and this algorithm, in particular, is the capability of
considering the spatial distribution of the elements that make
up the whole system, with the possibility to take into account
all the associated aspects and costs related to their location
and mutual position.
It consists of 5 main steps that are illustrated in Figure 1.
Step 1 illustrates the quantification and the mapping of the
heat demand, and step 2 its spatial aggregation. In this way,
For each demand cluster, the total cost associated with DH,
thus the sum of heat generation, heat transportation, and distribution, is compared to the cost that would be paid if the
District heating (DH) is a well-known technology, in a way invented by the ancient Romans thousands of years ago. However, despite the energy, economic and social benefits it can
bring, it still is a niche technology. In this sense, district heating
should be “discovered”: anyone should become aware of its potential to promote its diffusion. The methodology I will present
has been developed based on open-source data and software
to make it replicable in other contexts and so that results can
be available for everyone.
In the following, the main steps of the method and then the
results obtained by applying it in Italy will be illustrated. The
focus was on district heating based on renewables and excess
heat sources. The main novelty stands in the high spatial resolution achieved, with which it was possible not to overlook
local parameters. It is, in fact, essential, when planning a DH
network, to properly consider its local nature.
Methodology
Figure 1:
Illustration of the five steps composing the methodology
10
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
T
TIS
SCIEN
CO
RN
ER
same amount of supplied heat is met by any alternative individual heating solution (e.g., natural gas boilers, air or water heat pumps). The optimization algorithm, aiming to minimize the system’s overall cost,
identifies the areas where DH is competitive to any local technology. It indicates the optimal heat demand
clusters, the heat sources to be connected, and how
(along which network path). The result of the methodology is the definition of DH potential in Italy on an
annual basis and based on an optimally designed network, thus with a high spatial resolution.
Results
This section deals with the results obtained by applying the developed methodology to the case study in
Italy. DH potential in the country in terms of quantity
is presented in Figure 2. At the same time, the identified optimal paths are shown in Figure 3 in a portion
of the Italian map for greater clarity. All the results can
be explored interactively in the web map created in
ArcGIS: https://arcg.is/0vvO4H.
Renewables- and excess heat-based DH in Italy can
meet a heat demand of 38 TWh annually and given
the minimum cost for the overall system. It corresponds to 12% of the estimated heat demand, about
329 TWh/year. A four-fold expansion is envisaged
since DH currently covers only 3% of the overall heat
demand.
These results appear very promising, and since Italy
presents a very peculiar territory, they also suggest
obtaining even higher results in countries where the
environment may be intrinsically more suitable for a
technology like DH. Indeed, Italy presents a variegated territory and different climate conditions, passing
from the northern regions with cold winters to central
and southern regions characterized by a mild Mediterranean climate. Moreover, it presents a widely uneven demographic distribution, with very dense metropolitan cities such as Milan and Rome and sparsely
populated areas along the Alps, the Apennines, and in
the two major islands, mainly.
Despite this peculiar territory conformation, a fourfold DH expansion can be obtained based on renewables and existing excess heat sources. This confirms
the important role that district heating can have in
mitigating climate change and in facing the current
energy crisis in Italy and globally.
Regarding the visualization of the results, in the map, it
is possible to see the heat demand clusters represented as orange polygons, the heat sources described as
points, and the optimal heat fluxes as directed arrows.
Industriel excess heat
Thermoelectric plants
Solar Thermal energy
Geothermal energy
Figure 2:
Estimated DH potential in Italy in terms of covered heat demand
Figure 3:
www.dbdh.dk
11
The considered heat sources are waste incineration plants (in
green), wastewater treatment plants (in blue), and low-temperature and high-temperature effluents from industries (in
yellow and red, respectively). The size of the points indicates
the amount of recoverable heat, while the amount of transported heat along the arrows is specified by their colour.
You may notice that not only sources and heat demand clusters are connected. There are paths linking sources with sources and clusters with clusters. Indeed, if the available heat from
a source is more significant than the demand in its vicinity, it
can be distributed to multiple clusters; if the heat entering a
cluster exceeds its heat demand, this residual heat can be conveyed to one or more adjacent clusters; if a cluster’s demand
cannot be met by a single source, multiple sources can be
used.
The developed methodology can be improved since some
simplification was made, but the results are reliable and encouraging. They can be extrapolated from the map and used
as a starting point for further analysis of specific districts in Italy
or other countries.
Future efforts will go towards an increased temporal resolution, considering demand and load profiles and heat storages
to balance them, and towards sector coupling, thus by considering the interaction of the heating sector with the electrical
and transport sectors.
CONCLUSION
How to make a plan?
The developed methodology enables the assessment of
DH potential on a large-scale level by considering the
magnitude, location, and costs of all the elements constituting the energy system. The local aspects that are
essential when dealing with DH are therefore contemplated.
The outcome of the optimization problem is very promising and can provide a reliable starting point for any decision-making authority, such as policymakers, cities’ mayors, and DH operators. District heating is indeed an energy
infrastructure in which local aspects are fundamental for
a proper potential assessment and planning. As proved by
the great development DH experienced in Denmark since
the intervention of the Government in the late 70s, adequate regulation at the national level is required to foster
the market uptake of this technology.
But together with policymakers, it is helpful that also
engineers, system operators, managers, and even users
(non-expert people) are made aware of this technology’s
potential. It is important that everyone knows that the advantages of this technology are many and assured, even
though a great investment cost is generally required for
the construction of the distribution network. Moreover, it
is important to stress that everyone can take advantage
of the environmental, social, and economic benefits that
arise from DH if the system is properly built and properly
managed, operated, and used.
That is why results are made available online and open for
consultancy. Everyone, even non-experts, can access them
and get an insight into a specific area’s potential in terms
of DH systems’ ability to provide thermal energy. Everyone
can “discover hot water”!
Giulia Spirito
What makes this subject exciting to you?
I have focused on DH&C since my degree in 2020. I was motivated and still am because DH’s role in decarbonization
appears increasingly relevant, with countless rising opportunities. I am devoting myself to learning more about them,
contributing to this development, and disseminating the acquired experience. This article proves it.
What will your findings do for DH?
The intention is to foster DH diffusion by highlighting its benefits. This is done by developing a replicable methodology for
assessing DH potential based on RES and excess heat. Fundamentally, each of the involved players of a DH system has a
clear vision of the potential advantages of this technology and how they can be maximized while minimizing costs. The
results obtained in Italy can be the stepping-stones for many other applications and more detailed research.
Giulia is a Ph.D. student at Politecnico di Milano. Her research focuses on DH at local and national scales, intending to
merge these two scales of analysis. She manages tools to design and optimize DH networks holistically based on geo-referenced data. She has been involved in several national and EU-funded projects and is participating in the activities of the
IEA. She is a co-author of 6 indexed scientific publications.
For further information please contact:
Giulia Spirito, giulia.spirito@polimi.it
12
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
Member company profile:
Taking a step toward the future
It is without a doubt that the energy sector worldwide is undergoing major unforeseen changes, which place the attention on sustainable energies.
This has allowed us to build specific competencies we employ
in our transition toward providing green energy.
Ever Better Energy
BWSC recognizes the value that green energies can provide,
and thus, we have been exploring our role within green energy solutions - namely carbon capture, energy storage, and
Power-to-X.
Thanks to our long-standing experience, today, we can confidently help green players as we reposition ourselves in the
industry. We aim to be more complete service providers and
grow within green solutions.
Power-to-X has been particularly in the spotlight of the green
energy industry. This technology helps companies achieve
their decarbonization goals by using surplus electric power
from electricity conversion, energy storage, and reconversion
pathways. In the long term, Power-to-X is expected to be able
to compete with fossil fuels and provide companies with a
more sustainable and cleaner energy alternative.
Our current strategy (launched two years ago) shifted us from
supplying turnkey power plants to providing our clients with
comprehensive advisory and technical services. This strategy is
already showing promising results: our clients are improving
profitability (due to greater efficiency) and making their plants
more reliable and available. More importantly, they are reducing their carbon footprint and transitioning to cleaner energy.
Thus, BWSC has been broadening its offer to include Power-to-Hydrogen projects. This is possible due to our adaptability and the strong competencies we developed throughout 40
years in engineering, installation, and technology integration.
So, as BWSC moves towards a greener future, our corporate
identity changes to reflect our values better today. Our drive is
now based on one simple goal: to provide “Ever Better Energy.”
Powerplant experts
Over time, we have specialized in providing facilities with lifetime extensions, increased capacity and efficiency, turnkey
O&M contracts, maintenance work, ad-hoc rehabilitation, and
more.
A fascinating and upcoming project area for BWSC has been
the optimization and shift in nature of existing powerplants.
Engine-based plants are increasingly converting from oil to gas
or from heavy to lighter fuel, while boiler-based plants transition from coal to biomass or gas.
Our role is to work with restrictions in flexibility in terms of the
fuels possible to use so that companies can broaden their fuel
configuration.
FACT BOX
With roots stretching back to the 20th century as a
stationary engine division of Burmeister & Wain, BWSC
has long evolved into a world-class provider of sustainable energy solutions focused on providing more value to its customers. They trust us to help them reach
their energy targets, solve challenges, and reduce
their carbon impact on the environment.
This environmental focus has grown in importance,
especially throughout the last decade, and is becoming increasingly relevant to our strategy and service
offering.
For further information please contact:
Alain Ruiz, alim@bwsc.dk
www.dbdh.dk
13
HEAT 4.0
– Digitalization creates measurable
efficiency results in the district heating sector
By Alfred Heller - HEAT 4.0 Project Manager NIRAS,
Eva Lange Rasmussen - Communication consultant NIRAS,
Per Sieverts Nielsen - Senior Researcher, Ph.D. DTU,
Henrik Madsen - Professor, Head of Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science DTU Compute
District heating utilities have long used consumption data and prognoses to plan their
production and meet the local heat demand. But to achieve more operational goals,
the use of large amounts of existing data has been limited. The HEAT 4.0 project has
therefore set this on the agenda and has successfully demonstrated new methods and
an open digital platform where IT and OT can meet in new harmonies.
The main objective of the implementation of digitalization
was to create environmental, operational, and economic efficiency for district heating companies.
HEAT 4.0 started in 2019 and was a 3-year project supported
by Innovation Fund Denmark.
Software customization
HEAT 4.0 addressed the digital needs of the entire sector, from
the production site to distribution to energy consumption –
and it has created synergy between the design, operation,
maintenance, and supply of district heating on a new and
unprecedented digital level. The invented solution is called
Cross System Optimization (CSO) and has been created
in close collaboration between the project's 16 partners:
component suppliers, researchers, district heating companies, and software developers.
14
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
In the project, three district heating companies were involved:
Hillerød Utility, Brønderslev Utility, and TREFOR, who each
demanded that the project add genuine efficiency improvements to the district heating system, from which all heating
companies could benefit.
The standard digital procedure is that each district heating
company installs and integrates the software systems they
would like to use in their own district heating operation - with-
HEAT 4.0 16 partnere:
Aarhus Universitet
Brønderslev Forsyning
Center Denmark
Danfoss
Dansk Fjernvarme
DESMI
DTU
EMD International
ENFOR
Hillerød Forsyning
Kamstrup
Kingspan/Logstor
NIRAS
Neogrid
NorthQ
Trefor
out setting requirements to communicate across the different
software solutions and services. The first step in the HEAT 4.0
project was to find secure methods for the OT systems to be
opened up to their surroundings in a controlled way and thus
be able to both send and simultaneously receive data from
other surrounding IT systems. In the development process of
this new IT architecture, strict requirements were set for cyber
security to protect data and prevent possible hacker attacks.
It was necessary to standardize the IT language used to improve operators' performance and control capabilities. Here,
the recommendation was to use OPC-UA as a standard protocol for data exchange, which has been developed within Industry 4.0 and has inspired the name of the current project. In
addition, HEAT 4.0 recommends the use of REST-API interfaces for the data exchange between software packages.
form aimed to ensure data quality by, for example, validating
data, troubleshooting missing data, and resampling data at
the required sampling rates. In addition, the platform's purpose was to enable the district heating plants to select and
replace several different digital services/software systems and
connect them via plug-n-play technologies through common
data interfaces.
At the time of writing, work is continuing to develop such a
commercial cloud, of which the project partner 'Center Denmark' is in charge. The cloud solution will save district heating companies many hours of integration, make usage data
much more intelligent, provide freedom of software choice to
operators, and simultaneously comply with the high requirements for IT security and privacy rules (GDPR), of course.
Prospect to efficiency and financial savings
First, a so-called peer-to-peer (p2p) solution was developed for
communication purposes, which denotes the agile and flexible communicative IT structure without a centralized server.
But the project's ambition was higher – and work was subsequently done to create a 'common data platform.' The plat-
The goal of the entire HEAT 4.0 project was to demonstrate
savings of heat losses in the pipe network of 1-2% through
digitalization. But research results during the project process
showed that the saving potentials were much higher for the
already efficiently managed District Heating plants like the
www.dbdh.dk
15
Figure:
The development of IT architecture in the District Heating system.
1
Special Features of HEAT 4.0
A data-driven solution
Available to all suppliers,
developers, and district
heating companies
An agile and flexible IT archi­
tecture
A common communication
platform
2
Use of standardized language
System independent
Foreign software can be
integrated
Make data available in secure
manner
Enable digital interconnection
of data and IT architecture
across systems
Improves control capabilities
for optimal production and
operation
Creates synergy for the entire
district heating system, i.e.,
between production, distribu­
tion, and consumption and
between design, operation,
and maintenance
16
HOTCOOL no.8 2022
3
Danish. The project has documented the following possible
savings from data-driven optimization of the district heating
system:
Significant savings using improved weather and
temperature forecasts and heat consumption
predictions
10 – 30% savings from predictive control of heat pumps
5 – 20%savings by integrating forecasting into the
buildings' smart management systems (smart house)
Up to 20% savings by using the grid and houses for
flexible energy storage
10 – 40% improvements in electricity and heat load
forecasts
Up to 20% savings through optimal operation and bidding, i.e., purchase of energy at the most advantageous
times
The above results are research-based feedback from the partners involved, each representing its part of the holistic district
heating system: production, distribution, and consumption.
The results testify to the fact that through digitalization, it is
possible to create valuable synergy and efficiency for the entire district heating system through intelligent use and interconnection of data.
(heating season 1: 2019-2020), the year after various software
solutions were installed (heating season 2: 2020-2021), and
again in heat season 3: 2021-2022. The purpose was to prove
savings between seasons 2 and 3.
For TREFOR, the result was 2-3 % with the integration of selected HEAT 4.0 tools. Similar values were documented for
Brønderslev Utility, who has calculated the savings to the
amount of €135,000 per year as an economic effect of a reduced heat loss in the heating network. In addition to the
large financial savings, Brønderslev Utility reports achieving
optimized pump operation, a better balance between pressure and temperatures, and an improved analysis tool for
operational planning. Both plants represent a typical district
heating plant. Therefore, it is evident that many district heating utilities – both in Denmark and abroad – will benefit from
using HEAT 4.0 tools to optimize their district heating operation and distribution.
An equal cross-disciplinary collaboration
HEAT 4.0 is based on a cooperative business approach that
aims to support the district heating sector with digitally
supported solutions, services, software, hardware, methods,
and algorithms. Despite potential competition conditions
among the HEAT 4.0 partners, all companies in the project
have worked closely together with a professional, open-minded business approach and heading towards a common digital goal. Each has offered its technology and knowledge on
equal terms, making HEAT 4.0 a unique innovation project.
Read the individual results for each participating partner on
heatman.dk.
Positive results
At the participating HEAT 4.0 district heating plants, the described cross-cutting optimization (CSO) solution and some
of the above savings options were tested. Thus, measurements
were carried out both before the implementation of HEAT 4.0
For further information please contact:
Michael Lassen Schmidt, Senior Project Director,
mls@niras.dk
www.dbdh.dk
17