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Economic feasibility of ultra-low temperature district heating systems in newly built areas supplied by renewable energy

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  • Meesenburg, Wiebke
  • Ommen, Torben
  • Thorsen, Jan Eric
  • Elmegaard, Brian

Abstract

Future district heating systems are expected to supply lower temperatures to increase system efficiency and enable exploitation of renewable heat sources. To answer whether it is beneficial to lower district heating temperatures below the level where it is still possible to supply domestic hot water directly, the economic feasibility of three ultra-low temperature district heating (ULTDH) concepts was compared to low temperature district heating (LTDH). The dependency of the economic feasibility on the boundary conditions of the supplied district heating area was assessed systematically and feasible boundary conditions were identified. For this purpose building plot ratio, specific heat demand and central heating unit were varied. The different solutions were compared based on levelised cost of heat, socioeconomic net present value and overall seasonal coefficient of performance. It was found that in most cases LTDH was economically preferred. ULTDH could be feasible if the linear heat demand density (LHDD) was high, if the cost of decentral units could be lowered or if the investment cost of the central heating unit was significantly lower compared to LTDH. Among the ULTDH solutions, apartment units were preferable for low LHDD, while units at building level performed better for larger LHDD.

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  • Meesenburg, Wiebke & Ommen, Torben & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Elmegaard, Brian, 2020. "Economic feasibility of ultra-low temperature district heating systems in newly built areas supplied by renewable energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:191:y:2020:i:c:s0360544219321917
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.116496
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Brunt, Nicholas & Duquette, Jean & O'Brien, William, 2023. "Techno-economic and environmental performance of two state-of-the-art solar-assisted district energy system topologies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
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    4. Quirosa, Gonzalo & Torres, Miguel & Chacartegui, Ricardo, 2022. "Analysis of the integration of photovoltaic excess into a 5th generation district heating and cooling system for network energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    5. Sánchez-García, Luis & Averfalk, Helge & Möllerström, Erik & Persson, Urban, 2023. "Understanding effective width for district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    6. Olfati, Mohammad & Bahiraei, Mehdi & Nazari, Saeed & Veysi, Farzad, 2020. "A comprehensive assessment of low-temperature preheating process in natural gas pressure reduction stations to better benefit from solar energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    7. Golmohamadi, Hessam & Larsen, Kim Guldstrand & Jensen, Peter Gjøl & Hasrat, Imran Riaz, 2022. "Integration of flexibility potentials of district heating systems into electricity markets: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Østergaard, Dorte Skaarup & Smith, Kevin Michael & Tunzi, Michele & Svendsen, Svend, 2022. "Low-temperature operation of heating systems to enable 4th generation district heating: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    9. Zhu, Tingting & Ommen, Torben & Meesenburg, Wiebke & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Elmegaard, Brian, 2021. "Steady state behavior of a booster heat pump for hot water supply in ultra-low temperature district heating network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(C).
    10. Li, Xiang & Yilmaz, Selin & Patel, Martin K. & Chambers, Jonathan, 2023. "Techno-economic analysis of fifth-generation district heating and cooling combined with seasonal borehole thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    11. Merlet, Yannis & Baviere, Roland & Vasset, Nicolas, 2023. "Optimal retrofit of district heating network to lower temperature levels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    12. Mengting Jiang & Camilo Rindt & David M. J. Smeulders, 2022. "Optimal Planning of Future District Heating Systems—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-38, September.
    13. Golmohamadi, Hessam, 2021. "Stochastic energy optimization of residential heat pumps in uncertain electricity markets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    14. Martínez-Ruiz, Yessenia & Manotas-Duque, Diego Fernando & Ramírez-Malule, Howard, 2023. "Financial risk assessment of a district cooling system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 278(PA).
    15. Lund, Henrik & Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Nielsen, Tore Bach & Werner, Sven & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Gudmundsson, Oddgeir & Arabkoohsar, Ahmad & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2021. "Perspectives on fourth and fifth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Hermansen, Rune & Smith, Kevin & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Wang, Jiawei & Zong, Yi, 2022. "Model predictive control for a heat booster substation in ultra low temperature district heating systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    17. Ozoliņa, Signe Allena & Pakere, Ieva & Jaunzems, Dzintars & Blumberga, Andra & Grāvelsiņš, Armands & Dubrovskis, Dagnis & Daģis, Salvis, 2022. "Can energy sector reach carbon neutrality with biomass limitations?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    18. Guelpa, E. & Capone, M. & Sciacovelli, A. & Vasset, N. & Baviere, R. & Verda, V., 2023. "Reduction of supply temperature in existing district heating: A review of strategies and implementations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    19. Chicherin, Stanislav, 2020. "Methodology for analyzing operation data for optimum district heating (DH) system design: Ten-year data of Omsk, Russia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    20. Chicherin, Stanislav & Starikov, Aleksander & Zhuikov, Andrey, 2022. "Justifying network reconstruction when switching to low temperature district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).

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