Abstract
European Union climate goals aim to increase waste incineration instead of landfills. Incineration of waste increases the mismatch between heat production and consumption since waste is generated constantly but energy demand varies significantly between seasons. Seasonal energy storage is suggested to alleviate this mismatch. However, traditional seasonal storage options have not been cost-effective investments for energy companies. This paper explores the feasibility of a large cavern thermal energy storage in a large district heating system with waste incineration. First, 62 one-year optimisations for seasonal storage with varying size and power were conducted to determine the economic performance of the system. Second, the annual system emissions were estimated. The results show that even small capacity seasonal storage reduces system emissions significantly. Return on investment for the most profitable storage with a capacity of 90 GWh and power of 200 MW range between 3.6% and 9.4%, and the investment varies between EUR 43–112 M depending on costs. Seasonal energy storages are still not as profitable as traditional energy investments. This might change due to growing waste heat recovery and the rising cost of carbon emissions. Further research is needed into new business models for implementing large seasonal storages.
Highlights
The European Union targets carbon neutrality by 2050 and calls for actions to reduce emissions in several key sectors [1]
Intermediate production consists of gas turbines connected to heat-reannual cost of heat production and revenue for electricity sales based on the constraints covery gas generators (CHP 1 gas and combined heat and power (CHP) 2 gas) due to lower taxation of natural gas of the system
Return on investment was calculated from the improvement of the system income divided by the investment into the seasonal storage
Summary
The European Union targets carbon neutrality by 2050 and calls for actions to reduce emissions in several key sectors [1]. Growth in waste produced per capita and decline in landfilling in Europe has led to an increased demand for waste incineration, which has been considered a way of avoiding emissions from landfilling and fossil fuel energy production [6,7] Another type of waste heat utilisation is growing due to more energy-efficient buildings and local heat pumps (HPs). This paper analyses the technology, costs, and return of large-scale seasonal heat storage in an urban setting with fluctuating head demand and summertime excess heat from MSW incineration. The results show that cavern-type seasonal heat storage can be economically feasible in an energy system which has low-cost and low-emission production during the summer months when heating demand is low
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