Abstract
District heating plays a key role in achieving high primary energy savings and the reduction of the overall environmental impact of the energy sector. This was recently recognized by the European Commission, which emphasizes the importance of these systems, especially when integrated with renewable energy sources, like solar, biomass, geothermal, etc. On the other hand, high amounts of heat are currently being wasted in the industry sector, which causes low energy efficiency of these processes. This excess heat can be utilized and transported to the final customer by a distribution network. The main goal of this research was to calculate the potential for excess heat utilization in district heating systems by implementing the levelized cost of excess heat method. Additionally, this paper proves the economic and environmental benefits of switching from individual heating solutions to a district heating system. This was done by using the QGIS software. The variation of different relevant parameters was taken into account in the sensitivity analysis. Therefore, the final result was the determination of the maximum potential distance of the excess heat source from the demand, for different available heat supplies, costs of pipes, and excess heat prices.
Highlights
Security of energy supply and CO2 emissions reduction have been recognized by the EU as the key topics that will define the development of its energy systems
Only 13% of the European heat supply is covered by district heating systems, which makes the potential for increasing this share significant, especially in urban areas which are characterised by high heat demand densities [1]
An analysis was conducted in Denmark as a case study, which examined the role of district heating systems in future renewable energy systems [3]
Summary
Security of energy supply and CO2 emissions reduction have been recognized by the EU as the key topics that will define the development of its energy systems. The utilization of highly efficient cogeneration with district heating systems should increase significantly, since these systems can greatly increase energy efficiency and reduce the CO2 emissions of the energy sector. Only 13% of the European heat supply is covered by district heating systems, which makes the potential for increasing this share significant, especially in urban areas which are characterised by high heat demand densities [1]. The primary conclusion was that the expansion of district heating to up to 70% of Danish net heat demand would be optimal. This could be limited by the uneven framework as shown in [4]. From the perspective of the consumers, the most important reasons for connecting to district heating are affordability, increased comfort, and the favourable
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