Abstract
During the decades the district heating's (DH) advantages (more cost-efficient heat generation and reduced air pollution) overcompensated the additional costs of transmission and distribution of the centrally produced thermal energy to consumers. Rapid increase in the efficiency of low-power heaters, development of separated low heat density areas in cities reduce the competitiveness of the large centralized DH systems in comparison with the distributed cluster-size networks and even local heating. Reduction of transmission costs, enhancement of the network efficiency by optimization of the design of the DH networks become a critical issue. The methodology for determination of the key drivers of the cost-efficiency of the DH networks to implement the most efficient (cost-minimal) thermal energy transmission was developed in this study. An inductive benchmarking modelling was applied; the general causal regularity is based on the observations of specific cases, thus determining the relationships between the network's design and thermal indicators as predictors and transmission costs as the target variable. The key drivers of the network efficiency were disclosed-the network length and the largest inner diameter of the pipes. The methodology is applicable for use by municipalities and heat providers for the heating planning of the new housing developments as well as renovation and/or expansion of the existing DH networks.
Highlights
During the decades, the advantages of the large district heating (DH) systems were accepted almost as an axiom for the densely populated areas
The DH systems using natural gas are losing their advantages of the effect of scale; the effect is only partly remained if biomass is used in both central and local plants
Advanced green heat generation technologies are well suited for the lower thermal power applications; they become acceptable for use even in the density populated areas. All this reduce the advantages of the large centralized DH systems; only the difference in fuel prices is noteworthy due to the large-scale purchases
Summary
The advantages of the large district heating (DH) systems were accepted almost as an axiom for the densely populated (urban) areas. The advantages were based on the cost-efficient heat generation (due to higher efficiency factor and cheaper fuel as a result of the effect of scale) as well as on reduced air pollution and carbon emissions (due to a small number of controlled sources and extensive use of the renewable energy) These benefits overcompensated the additional costs of transmission and distribution (further transmission) of the centrally produced thermal energy to consumers. Advanced green heat generation technologies (e.g., solar thermal, ground-source heat pumps, geothermal, waste) are well suited for the lower thermal power applications; they become acceptable for use even in the density populated areas All this reduce the advantages of the large centralized DH systems; only the difference in fuel prices is noteworthy due to the large-scale purchases (which can often be implemented in a distributed system too). The methodology was developed by analysis of various performance aspects and creation of the general causative regularity using the advanced benchmarking modelling procedures on the basis of practical cases (Latvian DH utilities)
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