IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v276y2023ics0360544223008988.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the heat distribution costs of linear and radial district heating networks: A methodological approach

Author

Listed:
  • Bachmann, Max
  • Kriegel, Martin

Abstract

In this study, we present a method for calculating the costs of distributing heat through linear and radial district heating networks in areas with low heat densities. The aim is to help planners and decision-makers evaluate the suitability of an area for district heating early in the planning process, taking into account not only the heat density but also individual network design parameters on site. We analyzed the specific capital, pumping, and heat loss costs in a linear network and established a relationship between the distribution costs and the network expansion. The specific costs of more complexly shaped radial networks were derived using the superposition principle. A sensitivity study showed the impact of design parameters on cost components. Our findings show that the specific total costs in a linear network follow a root function with respect to network expansion and are mainly influenced by capital costs. The structure and size of the network also have a significant impact on heat distribution costs. In an example, the total costs increased more than threefold with a network expansion from 0.1 km to 10 km. Besides the linear heat density, other network design parameters showed a significant influence on the heat distribution costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Bachmann, Max & Kriegel, Martin, 2023. "Assessing the heat distribution costs of linear and radial district heating networks: A methodological approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:276:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223008988
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.127504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544223008988
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2023.127504?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Averfalk, Helge & Werner, Sven, 2020. "Economic benefits of fourth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Stegnar, Gašper & Staničić, D. & Česen, M. & Čižman, J. & Pestotnik, S. & Prestor, J. & Urbančič, A. & Merše, S., 2019. "A framework for assessing the technical and economic potential of shallow geothermal energy in individual and district heating systems: A case study of Slovenia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 405-420.
    3. Reidhav, Charlotte & Werner, Sven, 2008. "Profitability of sparse district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(9), pages 867-877, September.
    4. Nussbaumer, T. & Thalmann, S., 2016. "Influence of system design on heat distribution costs in district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 496-505.
    5. Gjoka, Kristian & Rismanchi, Behzad & Crawford, Robert H., 2023. "Fifth-generation district heating and cooling systems: A review of recent advancements and implementation barriers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    6. Werner, Sven, 2017. "International review of district heating and cooling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 617-631.
    7. 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).
    8. Möller, Bernd & Wiechers, Eva & Persson, Urban & Grundahl, Lars & Lund, Rasmus Søgaard & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Towards EU-Wide, local heat supply strategies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 554-564.
    9. 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.
    10. Persson, Urban & Werner, Sven, 2011. "Heat distribution and the future competitiveness of district heating," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 568-576, March.
    11. Christensen, Laurits R & Greene, William H, 1976. "Economies of Scale in U.S. Electric Power Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(4), pages 655-676, August.
    12. Connolly, D. & Lund, H. & Mathiesen, B.V. & Werner, S. & Möller, B. & Persson, U. & Boermans, T. & Trier, D. & Østergaard, P.A. & Nielsen, S., 2014. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Combining district heating with heat savings to decarbonise the EU energy system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 475-489.
    13. 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).
    14. Lund, Henrik & Werner, Sven & Wiltshire, Robin & Svendsen, Svend & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2014. "4th Generation District Heating (4GDH)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-11.
    15. Persson, Urban & Wiechers, Eva & Möller, Bernd & Werner, Sven, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Heat distribution costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 604-622.
    16. Nielsen, Steffen & Möller, Bernd, 2013. "GIS based analysis of future district heating potential in Denmark," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 458-468.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. 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.
    2. Persson, Urban & Wiechers, Eva & Möller, Bernd & Werner, Sven, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Heat distribution costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 604-622.
    3. Averfalk, Helge & Werner, Sven, 2020. "Economic benefits of fourth generation district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    4. Mc Guire, Jason & Petrović, Stefan N. & Daly, Hannah & Rogan, Fionn & Smith, Andrew & Balyk, Olexandr, 2024. "Is District Heating a cost-effective solution to decarbonise Irish buildings?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    5. Pia Manz & Katerina Kermeli & Urban Persson & Marius Neuwirth & Tobias Fleiter & Wina Crijns-Graus, 2021. "Decarbonizing District Heating in EU-27 + UK: How Much Excess Heat Is Available from Industrial Sites?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-34, January.
    6. Leurent, Martin, 2019. "Analysis of the district heating potential in French regions using a geographic information system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Li, Haoran & Hou, Juan & Hong, Tianzhen & Nord, Natasa, 2022. "Distinguish between the economic optimal and lowest distribution temperatures for heat-prosumer-based district heating systems with short-term thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    8. Munćan, Vladimir & Mujan, Igor & Macura, Dušan & Anđelković, Aleksandar S., 2024. "The state of district heating and cooling in Europe - A literature-based assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    9. Leurent, Martin & Da Costa, Pascal & Rämä, Miika & Persson, Urban & Jasserand, Frédéric, 2018. "Cost-benefit analysis of district heating systems using heat from nuclear plants in seven European countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 454-472.
    10. Yao, Shuai & Wu, Jianzhong & Qadrdan, Meysam, 2024. "A state-of-the-art analysis and perspectives on the 4th/5th generation district heating and cooling systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    11. Andreas Müller & Marcus Hummel & Lukas Kranzl & Mostafa Fallahnejad & Richard Büchele, 2019. "Open Source Data for Gross Floor Area and Heat Demand Density on the Hectare Level for EU 28," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-25, December.
    12. Salenbien, R. & Wack, Y. & Baelmans, M. & Blommaert, M., 2023. "Geographically informed automated non-linear topology optimization of district heating networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    13. Persson, U. & Möller, B. & Werner, S., 2014. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Identifying strategic heat synergy regions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 663-681.
    14. Möller, Bernd & Wiechers, Eva & Persson, Urban & Grundahl, Lars & Connolly, David, 2018. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Identifying local heat demand and supply areas with a European thermal atlas," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 281-292.
    15. Romanov, D. & Leiss, B., 2022. "Geothermal energy at different depths for district heating and cooling of existing and future building stock," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    16. Manz, Pia & Billerbeck, Anna & Kök, Ali & Fallahnejad, Mostafa & Fleiter, Tobias & Kranzl, Lukas & Braungardt, Sibylle & Eichhammer, Wolfgang, 2024. "Spatial analysis of renewable and excess heat potentials for climate-neutral district heating in Europe," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    17. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    18. Billerbeck, Anna & Breitschopf, Barbara & Winkler, Jenny & Bürger, Veit & Köhler, Benjamin & Bacquet, Alexandre & Popovski, Eftim & Fallahnejad, Mostafa & Kranzl, Lukas & Ragwitz, Mario, 2023. "Policy frameworks for district heating: A comprehensive overview and analysis of regulations and support measures across Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    19. Mathiesen, B.V. & Lund, H. & Connolly, D. & Wenzel, H. & Østergaard, P.A. & Möller, B. & Nielsen, S. & Ridjan, I. & Karnøe, P. & Sperling, K. & Hvelplund, F.K., 2015. "Smart Energy Systems for coherent 100% renewable energy and transport solutions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 139-154.
    20. Möller, Bernd & Wiechers, Eva & Persson, Urban & Grundahl, Lars & Lund, Rasmus Søgaard & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Towards EU-Wide, local heat supply strategies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 554-564.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:276:y:2023:i:c:s0360544223008988. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.