Swedish District Heating Systems Research Articles

Using flexible energy system interactions amongst industry, district heating, and the power sector to increase renewable energy penetration

Sweden’s goal of 100% renewable electricity generation by 2040 requires investments in intermittent electricity production (e.g. wind power). However, increasing the share of intermittent electricity production presents challenges, including reduced flexibility of electricity production. A strategy for overcoming this issue is developing flexibility in electricity consumption. This study analyses the potential for using flexible industrial processes, heat pumps (HP), and combined heat and power (CHP) plants in Swedish district heating systems to increase the share of wind power capacity without compromising grid stability. The simulation tool EnergyPLAN was used to assess the potential contribution of these strategies. The analysis includes a range of annual wind power production between 45 and 60 TWh. The required electricity imports and critical excess electricity (that can neither be used nor exported due to transmission line limitations) were used to evaluate the system’s stability. Managing the operation of CHP plants, HPs, and industrial processes in a flexible way is challenging, but these strategies may still play a decisive role in increasing the share of renewable electricity production and reducing demand peaks in cities. Whilst HP regulation is better at reducing excess electricity production at lower wind power capacities (from 32 to 15% for the analysed interval of wind power production), CHP regulation becomes more relevant when wind power capacity increases (from 14 to 39%). Like HP regulation, flexibility in electricity demand in industrial processes had a greater percentage contribution at lower wind power capacities. Combining HP, CHP regulation, and flexible electricity demands in industry can reduce excess electricity production by 68–80% and electricity imports by 14–26%. Wind power contributing to grid stabilisation reduces excess electricity production but does not reduce electricity imports.

Increased cogeneration of renewable electricity through energy cooperation in a Swedish district heating system - A case study

Abstract The present study of the district heating (DH) system in the city of Kisa, Sweden, shows how, through energy cooperation with a nearby sawmill and paper mill, a local energy company contributes to energy-efficient DH and cost-effective utilization of a new biofuel combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Cases of stand-alone and integrated energy systems are optimized with the linear program MODEST. The European power market is assumed to be fully deregulated. The results show clear advantages for the energy company to cooperate with these industries to produce heat for DH and process steam for industry. The cooperating industries gain advantages from heat and/or biofuel by-product supply as well. The opening to use a biofuel CHP plant for combined heat supply results in cogenerated electricity of almost 29 GWh/a with an increased biofuel use of 13 GWh/a, zero fuel oil use and CO2 emission reductions of 25,800 tons CO2/a with coal-condensing power plant on the margin and biofuel as limited resource. The total system cost decreases by −2.18 MEUR/a through extended cooperation and renewable electricity sales. The sensitivity analysis shows that the profitability of investing in a biofuel CHP plant increases with higher electricity and electricity certificate prices.

Risk of industrial heat recovery in district heating systems

Industrial heat recovery can be used in district heating systems. It is a possibility to make use of heat that is otherwise lost. Increased usage of industrial heat recovery reduces the need for fuel combustion lowering green-house gas (GHG) emissions, such as CO2. Industrial companies can, however, move or close down industrial activities. This is apprehended as a risk and lowers the interest of district heating companies to invest in industrial heat recovery.In Swedish district heating systems, industrial heat recoveries have been undertaken since 1974. Today, the heat recovery is active in about seventy systems. This leads to the question of how risky it is, for district heating companies, to engage in industrial heat recovery.Over forty years of operation statistics have been collected and analyzed in order to estimate the risk of industrial heat recovery to district heating companies. Key results show that the risk is not linked to different industrial branches. Recommendations include suggestions to management on how to consider risk and consequence when assessing potential industrial heat recovery investments.

The potential of power-to-heat in Swedish district heating systems

The main challenge for future electricity systems is to match the available electricity from variable renewable resources with the electricity demand in place, time and quantity. One option for increasing electricity system flexibility is to integrate the electricity system with the district heating systems via the use of power-to-heat technologies such as electric boilers. The overarching objective of this paper is to increase the understanding of what role power-to-heat could have in Sweden and to contribute to the development of methods and tools that can be applied when analysing the potential of power-to-heat. For that purpose we estimate the technical potential of power-to-heat for different power scenarios and assumptions and identify key parameters which have significant impact on the potential. The calculations are based on hourly simulations of electricity production, electricity consumption and district heat load. The power-to-heat potential was estimated to 0.2–8.6 TWh, where the potentials at the higher end pertain to scenarios with high amounts of wind and solar power production (corresponding to 54–64% of electricity consumption). Access to thermal storage increases the potential of power-to-heat while the use of industrial waste heat and heat from waste incineration in the district heat load reduces the potential.

The introduction and expansion of biomass use in Swedish district heating systems

District heating satisfies about 60% of the heat demand in Swedish buildings. Today, more than two thirds of the heat supply to the district heating systems is based on biomass and waste, and biomass alone accounts for about half of the heat supply. The purpose of this paper is to present the Swedish experiences of introducing and expanding the use of biomass in the district heating systems and to identify the main drivers behind this development. Our five research questions and the corresponding conclusions consider the driving forces from energy policy tools and local initiatives, the biomass prices, the established infrastructures in forestry and district heating, the technology paths for biomass conversion, and finally the future challenge of competing uses of biomass.

Fault detection in district heating substations

Current temperature levels in European district heating networks are still too high with respect to future conditions as customer heat demands decrease and new possible heat source options emerge. A considerable reduction of temperature levels can be accomplished by eliminating current faults in substations and customer heating systems. These faults do not receive proper attention today, because neither substations nor customer heating systems are centrally supervised. The focus of this paper has been to identify these faults by annual series of hourly meter readings obtained from automatic meter reading systems at 135 substations in two Swedish district heating systems. Based on threshold methods, various faults were identified in 74% of the substations. The identified faults were divided into three different fault groups: Unsuitable heat load pattern, low average annual temperature difference, and poor substation control. The most important conclusion from this early study of big data volumes is that automatic meter reading systems can provide proactive fault detection by continuous commissioning of district heating substations in the future. A complete reduction of current faults corresponds to approximately half the required reduction of the current temperature levels in the effort toward future low-temperature district heating networks.

Development, validation and application of a fixed district heating model structure that requires small amounts of input data

Reducing the energy use of buildings is an important part in reaching the European energy efficiency targets. Consequently, local energy systems need to adapt to a lower demand for heating. A 90% of Swedish multi-family residential buildings use district heating (DH) produced in Sweden’s over 400 DH systems, which use different heat production technologies and fuels. DH system modelling results obtained until now are mostly for particular DH systems and cannot be easily generalised. Here, a fixed model structure (FMS) based on linear programming for cost-optimisaton studies of DH systems is developed requiring only general DH system information. A method for approximating heat demands based on local outdoor temperature data is also developed. A scenario is studied where the FMS is applied to six Swedish DH systems and heat demands are reduced due to energy efficiency improvements in buildings. The results show that the FMS is a useful tool for DH system optimisation studies and that building energy efficiency improvements lead to reduced use of fossil fuels and biomass in DH systems. Also, the share of CHP in the production mix is increased in five of the six DH systems when the heat demand is reduced.

Daily heat load variations in Swedish district heating systems

Heat load variations in district heating systems are both seasonal and daily. Seasonal variations have mainly its origin from variations in outdoor temperature over the year. The origin of daily variations is mainly induced by social patterns due to customer social behaviours. Heat load variations cause increased costs because of increased peak heat load capacity and expensive peak fuels. Seasonal heat load variations are well-documented and analysed, but analyses of daily heat load variations are scarce. Published analyses are either case studies or models that try to predict daily heat load variations. There is a dearth of suitable assessment methods for more general analyses of existing daily load variations.In this paper, a novel assessment method for describing daily variations is presented. It is applied on district heating systems, but the method is generic and can be applied on every kind of activity where daily variations occur. The method was developed from two basic conditions: independent of system size and no use of external parameters other than of the time series analysed. The method consists of three parameters: the annual relative daily variation that is a benchmarking parameter between systems, the relative daily variation that describes the expected heat storage size to eliminate daily variations, and the relative hourly variation that describes the loading and unloading capacity to and from the heat storage. The assessment method could be used either for design purposes or for evaluation of existing storage.The method has been applied on 20 Swedish district heating systems ranging from small to large systems. The three parameters have been estimated for time series of hourly average heat loads for calendar years. The results show that the hourly heat load additions beyond the daily averages, vary between 3% and 6% of the annual volume of heat supplied to the network. Hereby, the daily variations are smaller than the seasonal variations, since the daily heat load additions, beyond the annual average heat load, are between 17% and 28% of the annual volume of heat supplied to the network. The size of short term heat storage to eliminate the daily heat load variations has been estimated to a heat volume corresponding to about 17% of the average daily heat supplied into the network. This conclusion can also be expressed as an average demand of 2.5m3 of heat storage volume per TJ of heat supplied by assuming a water temperature difference of 40°C. The capacity for loading and unloading the storage should be equal to about half of the annual average heat load for heat supplied into the network.

Optimisation of a Swedish district heating system with reduced heat demand due to energy efficiency measures in residential buildings

The development towards more energy efficient buildings, as well as the expansion of district heating (DH) networks, is generally considered to reduce environmental impact. But the combined effect of these two progressions is more controversial. A reduced heat demand (HD) due to higher energy efficiency in buildings might hamper co-production of electricity and DH. In Sweden, co-produced electricity is normally considered to displace electricity from less efficient European condensing power plants. In this study, a potential HD reduction due to energy efficiency measures in the existing building stock in the Swedish city Linköping is calculated. The impact of HD reduction on heat and electricity production in the Linköping DH system is investigated by using the energy system optimisation model MODEST. Energy efficiency measures in buildings reduce seasonal HD variations. Model results show that HD reductions primarily decrease heat-only production. The electricity-to-heat output ratio for the system is increased for HD reductions up to 30%. Local and global CO 2 emissions are reduced. If co-produced electricity replaces electricity from coal-fired condensing power plants, a 20% HD reduction is optimal for decreasing global CO 2 emissions in the analysed DH system.

National energy policies: Obstructing the reduction of global CO 2 emissions? An analysis of Swedish energy policies for the district heating sector

The effect of national energy policies on a local Swedish district heating (DH) system has been studied, regarding the profitability of new investments and the potential for climate change mitigation. The DH system has been optimised regarding three investments: biomass-fuelled CHP (bio CHP), natural gas-fuelled combined cycle CHP (NGCC CHP) and biomass-fuelled heat-only boiler (bio HOB) in two scenarios (with or without national taxes and policy instruments). In both scenarios EU’s tradable CO 2 emission permits are included. Results from the study show that when national policies are included, the most cost-effective investment option is the bio CHP technology. However, when national taxes and policy instruments are excluded, the DH system containing the NGCC CHP plant has 30% lower system cost than the bio CHP system. Regardless of the scenario and when coal condensing is considered as marginal electricity production, the NGCC CHP has the largest global CO 2 reduction potential, about 300 ktonne CO 2. However, the CO 2 reduction potential is highly dependent on the marginal electricity production. Demonstrated here is that national policies such as tradable green certificates can, when applied to DH systems, contribute to investments that will not fully utilise the DH systems’ potential for global CO 2 emissions reductions.

Biomass gasification opportunities in a district heating system

This paper evaluates the economic effects and the potential for reduced CO2 emissions when biomass gasification applications are introduced in a Swedish district heating (DH) system. The gasificati ...

Biomass gasification in district heating systems – The effect of economic energy policies

Biomass gasification is considered a key technology in reaching targets for renewable energy and CO 2 emissions reduction. This study evaluates policy instruments affecting the profitability of biomass gasification applications integrated in a Swedish district heating (DH) system for the medium-term future (around year 2025). Two polygeneration applications based on gasification technology are considered in this paper: (1) a biorefinery plant co-producing synthetic natural gas (SNG) and district heat; (2) a combined heat and power (CHP) plant using integrated gasification combined cycle technology. Using an optimisation model we identify the levels of policy support, here assumed to be in the form of tradable certificates, required to make biofuel production competitive to biomass based electricity generation under various energy market conditions. Similarly, the tradable green electricity certificate levels necessary to make gasification based electricity generation competitive to conventional steam cycle technology, are identified. The results show that in order for investment in the SNG biorefinery to be competitive to investment in electricity production in the DH system, biofuel certificates in the range of 24–42 EUR/MWh are needed. Electricity certificates are not a prerequisite for investment in gasification based CHP to be competitive to investment in conventional steam cycle CHP, given sufficiently high electricity prices. While the required biofuel policy support is relatively insensitive to variations in capital cost, the required electricity certificates show high sensitivity to variations in investment costs. It is concluded that the large capital commitment and strong dependency on policy instruments makes it necessary that DH suppliers believe in the long-sightedness of future support policies, in order for investments in large-scale biomass gasification in DH systems to be realised.

Future use of heat pumps in Swedish district heating systems: Short- and long-term impact of policy instruments and planned investments

Heat pumps constitute one of the major technologies used in district heating systems in Sweden. Totally about 6 TWh of heat are supplied annually by heat pumps, equivalent to 12% of the heat supplied in district heating systems. New policy instruments that have recently been introduced will change the conditions for technologies in the district heating systems. It is likely that the incentives for waste incineration and combined heat and power will be improved. This study estimates how different policy instruments, and new investments in waste incineration and combined heat and power, affect heat pumps in Swedish district heating systems. The results indicate that heat pumps are affected in both a short-term and a long-term perspective, and that heat pumps will play a less important role in district heating systems in the future. Depending on the policy instruments applied in the district heating sector, the long-term use is between 18% and 71% lower than current use. In a long-term perspective, it is in the systems which currently use heat pumps during a large part of the year that new investments in waste incineration and combined heat and power can be expected, resulting in a convergence between different district heating systems regarding how much heat is supplied by combined heat and power and waste incineration, and regarding the annual operating hours for heat pumps.

Effects of planned expansion of waste incineration in the Swedish district heating systems

Recent targets for reduced amounts of waste to landfills in Sweden will result in a large increase in waste incineration with recovery of energy, used primarily for district heating. The aim of this study is to investigate what changes in the usage of other fuels and technologies for district heat production would be caused by this increase. A questionnaire was sent out to the largest district heating companies, and simulations in an energy systems model were carried out. The analysis shows that increased waste incineration reduces the demand for other fuels, especially biomass, for district heat production. The effects include reductions in operating hours as well as the avoidance or postponement of investments in new plants for district heat production. Increased waste incineration will also lead to a greater use of district heating in Sweden.

Investments in combined heat and power plants: influence of fuel price on cost minimised operation

Liberalisation of the electricity market and governmental politics influence heat and power supply in Sweden, like in many other countries. In this paper, the impact of subsidies and fuel and electricity costs on a representative Swedish district heating system is analysed. The energy system model MODEST (model for optimisation of dynamic energy systems with time dependent components and boundary conditions) was used to optimise investments and operation for heat and power production plants. At higher electricity prices, combined heat and power introduction may be profitable in the studied system. With current fuel prices, a natural gas fired combined cycle would primarily be favourable. A lower woodchips price and a governmental grant would make cogeneration with a biomass fired steam cycle more beneficial.

Drop-in replacement of R22 in heat pumps used for district heating — influence of equipment and property limitations

In Swedish district heating systems several large (25 MW) turbo-compressor driven heat pumps using R22 are installed. The only commercially available alternative is R134a, but its use could decrease the heating capacity by 35%. In this paper a method for finding the best working fluid for a specific heat pump plant is presented, and applied to a district heating plant. First, a screening is made among almost 2000 mixtures, using criteria such as condenser pressure, Mach number and temperature glide. Simulations of the plant are then made to investigate the change in heating capacity and COP when using a mixture instead of R134a. The results show that there are mixtures that can offer a substantially higher heating capacity than R134a, but there is a decrease in COP. The importance of considering the limiting parameters of the heat pump, such as maximum volume flow to each compressor stage and minimum evaporator pressure, is shown.

Ranking factors of an investment in cogeneration: Sensitivity analysis ranking the technical and economical factors

A deregulation of the electricity market in Europe will result in increased competition among the power-producing companies. They will therefore carefully estimate the financial risk in an investment in new power-producing capability. One part of the risk assessment is to perform a sensitivity analysis. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis using factorial design, resulting in an assessment of the most important technical and economical factors affecting an investment in a gas turbine combined cycle and a steam cycle fired by woodchips. The study is performed using a simulation model that optimizes the operation of existing power plants and potential new investments to fulfil the desired heat demand. The local utility system analysed is a Swedish district heating system with 655 GWh y−1 heat demand. The conclusion is that to understand which of the technical and economical factors affect the investment, it is not sufficient to investigate the parameters of the studied plant, but also the parameters related to the competing plants. Both the individual effects of the factors and the effect of their interaction should be investigated. For the energy system studied the price of natural gas, price of woodchips and investment cost have the major influence on the profitability of the investment. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interaction effects in optimising a municipal energy system

A study is presented where factorial design is used to find how some selected economic and technical factors affect the profitability of an investment in a combined heat and power plant. The study is performed on a Swedish district heating system. The minimal cost for supplying the demanded heat is calculated with a developed energy system optimisation model, MODEST. The effects on the resulting parameters, such as system cost and optimal size of steam cycle, are calculated from a series of experiments performed using high and low levels of the most relevant factors. The conclusion of the study is that both the main factors and the interactions between them have to be analysed to establish an accurate ranking of the technical and economic factors.

Cost effectiveness of measures for the reduction of net accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

In this paper a method is presented for comparison of the cost effectiveness of mitigation of net emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO 2), by measures carried out in different parts of the carbon cycle. The method is applied on forest production and wood fuels. Two roles are distinguished for forests in the carbon cycle: the role of biomass build-up, e.g. the process to fix carbon into biomass from CO 2 in the atmosphere, and the role of a carbon store in wood and other biomass to be used as a sink or as a source for wood fuels. The two roles are interdependent and are related to the age of trees and other conditions of the forest stands, and can be influenced by forestry activities. The costs of reducing CO 2 emissions by using wood fuels substituting fossil fuels are analysed and presented for a situation represented by the Swedish district heating system. It was found that the costs of replacing fossil fuels by biofuels generally are considerably lower than the corresponding level of the Swedish taxes on fossil fuels. In some cases wood fuels were found to be cheaper than fossil fuels irrespective of taxes. Comparisons between the costs of mitigation measures to reduce CO 2 net emissions by wood fuel combustion and those aiming at increased storage of carbon in the forests strongly indicate that combustion measures are more cost effective, especially in a long perspective.

Biomass and district-heating systems

New technologies for biomass gasification are being developed which increase the potential to cogenerate electricity and may reduce costs compared with steam turbine technology. Cogeneration is a more energy-efficient way to convert biomass into heat and electricity than separate electricity and heat production. The potential to cogenerate electricity in the Swedish district-heating systems is estimated to be 20% of current electricity production when using combined cycle technology. The electricity and heat costs from cogeneration with biomass are higher than the costs from fossil fuel plants at current fuel prices when external costs are excluded.