District Heating Sector Research Articles

Characteristics of large thermal energy storage systems in Poland

In District Heating Systems (DHS) there are significant fluctuations in demand for heat by consumers during both the heating and the summer seasons. These variations are considered primarily in the 24-hour time horizon. These problems are aggravated further if the DHS is supplied by a CHP plant, because fluctuations in heat demand adversely affect to a significant degree the stable production of electricity at high overall efficiency. Therefore, introducing Thermal Energy Storage (TES) would be highly recommended on these grounds alone. The characteristics of Large (i.e. over 10 000 m 3 ) TES in operation in Poland are presented. Information is given regarding new projects (currently in design or construction) that apply TES technology in DHS in Poland. The paper looks at the methodology used in Poland to select the TES system for a particular DHS, i.e., procedure for calculating capacity of the TES tank and the system to prevent water stored in the tank from absorbing oxygen from atmospheric air. Implementation of TES in DHS is treated as a recommended technology in the Polish District Heating sector. This technology offers great opportunities to improve the operating conditions of DHS, cutting energy production costs and emissions of pollutants to the atmosphere.

Modelling support policies and renewable energy sources deployment in the Hungarian district heating sector

Increasing renewable-based district heating could contribute significantly to the renewable target achievements of Central and Eastern European Member States with significant shares of district heating in their heat markets. These countries face dual challenges: high competition with other heating sources (including individual heating) and decreasing heat consumption due to building-related energy efficiency improvements in the sector. Our paper is based on a Hungarian case study, attempting to contribute to identifying the most efficient options to achieve these targets in the district heating sector. We apply a district heating model covering all district heating systems in the country and assess the available policy instruments with the potential for increasing renewable energy sources deployment and competitiveness in the sector. The assessment shows that investment grants and operational support are efficient instruments to increase renewable energy sources shares and also improve efficiency in the sector, while end user price and renewable co-generation support in the electricity market lead to non-optimal outcomes.

Analysis of energy development sustainability: The example of the lithuanian district heating sector

Abstract Today, sustainable energy development is one of key issues on European development agenda. The article describes one of sustainable energy development promoting tool - the eco-labelling scheme for district heating and cooling systems elaborated within the framework of Intelligent Energy for Europe program project “Ecoheat4cities” and partially funded by European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation. The scheme is based on measured energy and environmental performance data of the district heating and cooling system and considers primary non-renewable energy usage together with the share of renewable energy and carbon dioxide emissions calculated using life-cycle analysis methodology. The “power bonus” approach is used for performance indicators of the heat generated in cogeneration installations. An analysis of a number of Lithuanian district heating companies using elaborated labelling criteria shows positive trends towards fulfilling Lithuania's energy policy goals. The labelling scheme gives opportunity for policy makers and urban planners to compare different heat supply options and decide upon exploiting district heating advantages and benefits for reaching EU energy and environment policy goals.

Impact of Germany's energy transition on the Nordic power market – A market-based multi-region energy system model

The EU energy policy aims at creating a single European electricity market through market couplings and grid expansions. To analyse the implications of such power market couplings, we propose a market-based multi-region energy system model. The model simulates a multi-region power market (by applying market optimization and network theory), with detailed representation of each region as an energy system (by simulation of both heat and power sectors). We examine the impact of further integration of variable renewable energy (VRE) in Germany on the Nordic power market. The results indicate that the average electricity price slightly grows in the Nordic power market after Germany's Energy Transition (Energiewende). Hence, the economic surplus of Nordic consumers diminishes while Nordic producers improve their gain under new market conditions. Considering the gird congestion income, the overall system-level benefits (social welfare) will improve in the Nordic region after Germany's Energiewende. However, this gain is not equally distributed among different Nordic countries and across different stakeholders. Furthermore, the Energiewende slightly increases carbon emissions from power and district heating (DH) sectors, and reduces the flexibility in integration of VRE in some Nordic countries like Denmark. The direct interconnection of Norway and Germany through NordLink will contribute to the flexibility in wind integration in other Nordic countries, such as Denmark and Finland.

Socioeconomic potential for introducing large-scale heat pumps in district heating in Denmark

Abstract Denmark has a national political goal of a 100% renewable energy supply in 2050. This requires a comprehensive transition of the energy system. For some decades, district heating in Denmark has been contributing to high fuel efficiency as well as to the integration of the electricity and heating sectors. Large-scale compression heat pumps would improve the integration between the district heating and power sectors by utilising the fluctuations in the supply from wind power, solar photo voltaic and other sources. Previous studies indicate that the introduction of heat pumps in Denmark will have a positive impact on the total costs for energy supply in the transition towards 100% renewable energy. In this paper, this is further investigated to assess the feasibility of heat pumps in the Danish energy system. The assessment is made by applying two different energy system analysis tools, named EnergyPLAN and MODEST. The comparison and discussion of these tools is a secondary purpose of the study. In general, the results show a potential for introducing heat pumps in Denmark between 2 and 4 GW-thermal power and a total potential benefit around 100 M€/year in 2025.

Collaborative benchmarking in the Danish district-heating sector

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is threefold: to investigate why and how companies in voluntary networks engage in performance benchmarking; how requirements for a standardised chart of accounts are handled; and what the role of regulatory pressure is.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of an established group of six district-heating companies. The data sources are semi-structured interviews, observations and documents.Findings– Both the forthcoming re-regulation of the district-heating sector and aims to improve efficiency were motivating the collaboration among the firms. An interpretation of common accounting rules can be negotiated in a collaborative network. The benchmarking model was embedded in routines internally in firms to facilitate learning and knowledge exchange, but it was also used to legitimise current operations.Research limitations/implications– As the paper is based on a case study of a specific project, the issues discussed in the paper should be further investigated in similar firms being exposed to regulation.Practical implications– Harmonisation of accounting data are of immense importance when benchmarking performance, but discretion in interpretations of data and results must be handled. Co-existence with existing rules and procedures should be allowed.Originality/value– The paper contributes to research understanding the role of collaboration in voluntary networks when benchmarking is implemented.

Combining Integrated Product and Service Offerings with Industrial Symbiosis – a study of opportunities and challenges

This article examines opportunities and challenges of combining Integrated Product and Service Offerings (IPSOs) (also known as PSS) with Industrial Symbiosis (IS) in order to facilitate an increas ...

Polish District Heating Systems—Development Perspectives

The most economical and rational means of heat supply for city inhabitants are district heating systems. Heat generated in power plants and large heat sources is cheaper than heat from individual sources. The reason for that is the amount of the generated heat and the used fuel (coal for most heat sources). District heating, a very important energy sub-sector for the Polish economy, provides heat supply to centralised heating systems, which, on average, satisfy 72% of the demand for heat in Polish cities. Therefore, several million Polish citizens use heat from district heating systems that produce heat in professional, industrial and municipal power plants. In Europe, over 100 million citizens use district heating systems. The present situation of the Polish district heating sector is a result of Poland's transformation that took place at the beginning of the 1990s. The reform put the obligation of heat supply on the local authorities, on the municipality, instead of the state. Along with the transformation, district heating also made huge technological and technical progress. Increasing expectations of recipients posed new challenges for the branch, however.

Market Analysis of Natural Gas for District Heating in China

Abstract Natural gas (NG) is expected to be used broadly in China to replace coal in district heating sector in order to reduce air pollution due to coal burning. However, it is difficult for natural gas to penetrate district heating market due to its relatively high cost. In the present study, a market simulation method is proposed to find the marginal conditions and policy to promote natural gas utilization for district heating. In the proposed method, technology improvement, pricing mechanism, carbon tax and user's pricing response are considered. The prerequisite of the market simulation is that the heating expenses of end-users won’t increase and the benefit of heat producers won’t decrease when using NG to replace coal. Based on the obtained analysis results, gas pricing revolution, heating pricing revolution and carbon tax mechanism are discussed in order to promote the gas-fired heating through market mechanism.

Energy saving synergies in national energy systems

Abstract In the transition towards a 100% renewable energy system, energy savings are essential. The possibility of energy savings through conservation or efficiency increases can be identified in, for instance, the heating and electricity sectors, in industry, and in transport. Several studies point to various optimal levels of savings in the different sectors of the energy system. However, these studies do not investigate the idea of energy savings being system dependent. This paper argues that such system dependency is critical to understand, as it does not make sense to analyse an energy saving without taking into account the actual benefit of the saving in relation to the energy system. The study therefore identifies a need to understand how saving methods may interact with each other and the system in which they are conducted. By using energy system analysis to do hourly simulation of the current Danish energy system, the combination of reductions in heat and electricity demands is analysed within the Danish district heating sector to show the benefits of coordinating savings in the electricity and district heating sectors.

An assessment of district heating research in China

Abstract The recent growth of the Chinese district heating sector has been very high. No other country in the world can show the same growth rate during the last decades. The heated building area increased six times between 1995 and 2008. China has also enjoyed strong growth of scientific articles and papers about district heating in recent years. One third of all international scientific journal articles and conference papers about district heating came from Chinese scientists during 2010–2012, while Swedish scientists accounted for one quarter according to the Scopus scientific search engine. It is important to identify the Chinese district heating research to judge the potential for future collaborative research on district heating systems between Sweden/Europe and China. The 205 international publications on district heating by Chinese scientists published until 2013 have been mapped and summarised with respect to demand, supply, technology, market and environment. More diversified heat supply with renewable source was grasping the Chinese interest, since many new systems have been established, having more degrees of freedom when choosing various heat supply and technology options. The Chinese district heating systems were compared with sustainable district heating solutions in Sweden. Both countries would benefit from future research cooperation.

Excess heat supply collaborations within the district heating sector: Drivers and barriers

This article combines the theoretical field of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) with a business model perspective to increase the knowledge about drivers and barriers behind the emergence of excess heat supply collaborations between district heating companies and industrial firms. The increased knowledge is gained by identifying and examining drivers and barriers associated with collaborative efforts to funnel excess heat produced by industrial firms into district heating grids in Sweden. An increased recovery of excess heat has the potential to reduce the primary energy demands of district heating systems. This study examines both existing and potential developments of industrial collaborations of excess heat-based district heating systems. The focus of the study consists of two Swedish cases of existing collaboration between district heating companies and pulp and paper industries as well as 16 industrial firms that all produce unused excess heat as a by-product. Confirming earlier research results, this study shows that financial issues are both the main drivers and the main barriers behind the emergence and development of inter-organisational collaborations. In addition, this study confirms earlier research that found the trust, joint problem solving, and fine-grained information transfer are important elements of successful collaboration. This study complements and clarifies these three features by including honesty and shared visions on common goals as important qualities needed for well-functioning collaborations. Combining the IS and the business model perspective has made it possible to examine more factors related to collaboration. The business model perspective has contributed with knowledge about central components of the business agreement between the collaborating parties, and the IS-perspective has contributed knowledge of the important organisational factors behind the emergence and development of long-term sustainable business agreements between firms.

Rola jakości w budowaniu relacji z klientami na rynku usług ciepłowniczych

In the diversified services market, most organisations do apply basic quality management principles, including customer orientation, but in practice this principle is implemented in various ways. Differences between the companies stem not only from types of services provided, but also the actions, in the specific environment, which often determine the implementation of the quality policy used. One of the specific types of services are public utilities, which, in delivering energy, water and the like, help fulfil society's basic needs. The objective of this paper is to analyse the quality activities undertaken by companies operating in one department of public utilities in the district heating sector. The first part of the paper focuses on the external factors which stimulate or limit the development of the district heating industry, while the second part discusses the selected aspects of the pro-consumer approach based on the example of a major heating company operating in Poland.

Vertical integration of local fuel producers into rural district heating systems – Climate impact and production costs

Farmers can use their own agricultural biomass residues for heat production in small-scale systems, enabling synergies between the district heating (DH) sector and agriculture. The barriers to entry into the Swedish heat market were extremely high as long as heat distribution were considered natural monopoly, but were recently lowered due to the introduction of a regulated third party access (TPA) system in the DH sector. This study assesses the potential impact on greenhouse gas emissions and cost-based heat price in the DH sector when farmers vertically integrate into the heat supply chain and introduce more local and agricultural crops and residues into the fuel mix. Four scenarios with various degree of farmer integration, were assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, and by analysis of the heat production costs. The results show that full integration of local farm and forest owners in the value chain can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower production costs/heat price, if there is an incentive to utilise local and agricultural fuels. The results imply that farmer participation in the DH sector should be encouraged by e.g. EU rural development programmes.

Low-carbon district heating in Sweden – Examining a successful energy transition

District heating (DH) systems may contribute to reducing the use of fossil fuels for heating purposes since they enable the use of waste heat and facilitate the use of renewable energy sources. This paper focuses on the transformation of the Swedish DH systems with regard to energy supply in 1960–2011. Swedish DH production was completely dependent on oil until the late 1970s, while today it is dominated by biomass and other renewable energy sources. The objectives of this paper are to describe and explain the fuel transition in the context of the main events that have characterized the development of the Swedish DH sector. For this purpose, we employ theories and approaches grounded in the literature on systems of innovations, especially the Multi-Level Perspective. The study shows that the transition involved a series of steps. Initiated by the oil crises in the 1970s the oil-based regime collapsed rapidly, while the growth of the biomass-based regime was a steered process governed by actors and supported only by external events. The lessons learned from the transition towards low-carbon and more sustainable DH systems in Sweden could be useful in the challenging task of steering future energy transitions in other countries and sectors.

Implementation of different policy strategies promoting the use of wood fuel in the Latvian district heating system: Impact evaluation through a system dynamic model

The Latvian district heating system historically is characterized with a high share of imported natural gas. The paper looks at the situation where specific policy tools significantly increase the proportion of renewables, in particular of wood fuel, in the energy balance. Within this context a system dynamics model was developed to identify the most suitable policy from the long term perspective for the replacement of the fossil fuel with the local biomass at the district heating. The policy instruments included in the model are: national subsidies for replacement of fossil fuel technologies, short-term informative campaign to decrease the investment risks related to the use of wood fuel-based technologies, implementation of Research and Design strategies aimed at the increase of efficiency of the wood fuel technology, and implementation of the Emission Trading Scheme and the CO2 taxation. The modelling results show that national level climate policy measures are substantial for promoting the use of renewable energy. The combinations of the above mentioned policy instruments significantly increase the share of wood fuel in the Latvian district heating system. In addition, the Emission Trading Scheme confirms its essential role in promoting the use of renewable energy within the district heating sector.

Financing instruments and channels for the increasing production and consumption of renewable energy: Lithuanian case

The growing demand for energy, commitments taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel depletion and other issues enforced to accept the decision to analyze financing issues of renewable energy sector worldwide. This paper addresses two financing issues – financing channels and instruments and their impact on energy cost. The analysis revealed that the governmental support in the form of tax reductions and subsidies, and international funds are important renewable energy sector financing channels in developing countries. Availability of private resources increases under the established public–private partnership agreements. Economically advanced countries use a greater variety of financing channels and instruments. Because of high growth of renewable energy sector, some new financing channels are available. The experience of Lithuania revealed that governmental policy encourages investment into the renewable energy sector. Banks found attractive renewable energy technologies after feed-in tariffs increased. EU Structural Funds and tax incentives are available, especially in subsidizing combined cycle electricity and heat generation. Innovative financing instruments provided under the JESSICA and JEREMIE initiatives, as well as investment subsidies are favorable to develop solar energy sector in Lithuania. Seeking to expedite solar sector development in Lithuania it is essential to review a feed-in tariff, which currently is too low and impedes implementation of solar PV technologies. Solar collectors could compete in the district heating sector even without a support.

Integration of biofuel production into district heating – Part II: an evaluation of the district heating production costs using Stockholm as a case study

Abstract Biofuel production through polygeneration with heat as one of the by-products implies a possibility for cooperation between transport and district heating sectors by introducing large-scale biofuel production into district heating systems. The cooperation may have effects on both the biofuel production costs and the district heating production costs. This paper is the second part of the study that investigates those effects. The biofuel production costs evaluation, considering heat and electricity as by-products, was performed in the first part of the study. In this second part of the study, an evaluation of how such cooperation would influence the district heating production costs using Stockholm's district heating system as a case study was performed. The plants introduced in the district heating system were chosen depending on the future development of the transport sector. In order to perform sensitivity analyses of different energy market conditions, two energy market scenarios were applied. Despite the higher revenues from the sale of by-products, due to the capital intense investments required, the introduction of large-scale biofuel production into the district heating system does not guarantee economic benefits. Profitability is highly dependent on the types of biofuel production plants and energy market scenarios. The results show that large-scale biogas and ethanol production may lead to a significant reduction in the district heating production costs in both energy market scenarios, especially if support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. If the total biomass capacity of the biofuel production plants introduced into the district heating system is 900 MW, the district heating production costs would be negative and the whole public transport sector and more than 50% of the private cars in the region could be run on the ethanol and biogas produced. The profitability is shown to be lower if the raw biogas that is by-produced in the biofuel production plants is used for combined and power production instead of being sold as transportation fuel; however, this strategy may still result in profitability if the support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included. Investments in Fischer–Tropsch diesel and dimethyl ether production are competitive to the investments in combined and power production only if high support for transportation fuel produced from renewable energy sources is included.

Investigating the impact of heat demand reductions on Swedish district heating production using a set of typical system models

Abstract The European Union (EU) aims at reducing its CO 2 emissions and use of primary energy. The EU also aims to improve the energy efficiency in buildings and promote the use of combined heat and power (CHP) plants in district heating (DH) systems. Due to significant differences among DH systems regarding fuel use and heat production units, results for one individual DH systems are not generally valid for other DH systems. Therefore, there is a need to generally describe entire DH sectors in a way that considers the heat production plant merit-orders of the individual DH systems. Here, four models of typical DH systems are defined to represent the Swedish DH sector. A scenario for stepwise heat demand reductions due to building energy efficiency improvements is studied. The results show that heat demand reductions in Swedish DH systems generally reduce global CO 2 emissions and mainly reduce the use of biomass and fossil fuels, while the use of waste and industrial waste heat (IWH) is less influenced. The results further show that in order to maximise the reduction of CO 2 emissions by energy conservation in buildings, the heat production technologies of the DH system should be considered. A large share of CHP production with a high electricity-to-heat output ratio decreases the possibilities to reduce global CO 2 emissions through heat demand reductions.

Optimal utilisation of heat demand in district heating system—A case study

Abstract Global warming is one of the most important issues to handle in the energy sector, due to the high CO2 emissions from fossil fuel based power plants. The district heating sector can play a significant role in reducing the emissions. This, however, depends on how efficiently current and future heat demands are used as a heat sink. This paper presents the results of a model study of a district heating system (DHS). As a case study, a local DHS in a town in Sweden has been modelled using a linear programming method. The electricity generation system in northern Europe is also modelled in simplified way to serve as an input. The purpose of this study and modelling in this way is to answer the questions concerning the choice of technology solutions and fuels from an economic and an environmental point of view where the focus is on the local DHS. The main objective is to study the impact of different levels of biomass prices and emission allowances on the choice of fuels and production technologies (no other taxes, fees or any kind of subsidy are considered). The results show that low biomass prices along with high emission costs promote investment in biomass-based cogeneration. However, this would mean that the market price of existing renewable incentives and CO2 cost must be higher than the current level. Furthermore, biomass as it is used now in traditional CHP system is not system optimal. In an integrated system, plants with high electrical efficiency provide better economy and lower emissions of global CO2 than solutions based on traditional biomass CHP. The need for a system solution where the heat demand is used efficiently is seen in facilities with high electrical efficiency.