scholarly journals A Method for Optimizing and Spatially Distributing Heating Systems by Coupling an Urban Energy Simulation Platform and an Energy System Model

Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Annette Steingrube ◽  
Keyu Bao ◽  
Stefan Wieland ◽  
Andrés Lalama ◽  
Pithon M. Kabiro ◽  
...  

District heating is seen as an important concept to decarbonize heating systems and meet climate mitigation goals. However, the decision related to where central heating is most viable is dependent on many different aspects, like heating densities or current heating structures. An urban energy simulation platform based on 3D building objects can improve the accuracy of energy demand calculation on building level, but lacks a system perspective. Energy system models help to find economically optimal solutions for entire energy systems, including the optimal amount of centrally supplied heat, but do not usually provide information on building level. Coupling both methods through a novel heating grid disaggregation algorithm, we propose a framework that does three things simultaneously: optimize energy systems that can comprise all demand sectors as well as sector coupling, assess the role of centralized heating in such optimized energy systems, and determine the layouts of supplying district heating grids with a spatial resolution on the street level. The algorithm is tested on two case studies; one, an urban city quarter, and the other, a rural town. In the urban city quarter, district heating is economically feasible in all scenarios. Using heat pumps in addition to CHPs increases the optimal amount of centrally supplied heat. In the rural quarter, central heat pumps guarantee the feasibility of district heating, while standalone CHPs are more expensive than decentral heating technologies.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 8195
Author(s):  
Omais Abdur Rehman ◽  
Valeria Palomba ◽  
Andrea Frazzica ◽  
Luisa F. Cabeza

In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, current and future energy systems need to be made more efficient and sustainable. This change can be accomplished by increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources and using efficient technologies in energy generation systems. One way to improve the operation of the whole energy system is through the generation and end-use sector coupling. Power-to-heat energy conversion and storage technologies, in this view, are enabling technologies that can help in balancing and improving the efficiency of both thermal and electric grids. In the present paper, a comprehensive analysis of the role of heat pumps and thermal energy storage for sector coupling is presented. The main features of the analyzed technologies are presented in the context of smart electric grid, district heating and cooling and multi-carrier energy systems, and recent findings and developments are highlighted. Finally, the technical, social, and economic challenges in the adoption of investigated technologies are discussed.


Author(s):  
Juan Gea Bermúdez ◽  
Kaushik Das ◽  
Hardi Koduvere ◽  
Matti Juhani Koivisto

This paper proposes a mathematical model to simulate Day-ahead markets of large-scale multi-energy systems with high share of renewable energy. Furthermore, it analyses the importance of including unit commitment when performing such analysis. The results of the case study, which is performed for the North Sea region, show the influence of massive renewable penetration in the energy sector and increasing electrification of the district heating sector towards 2050, and how this impacts the role of other energy sources such as thermal and hydro. The penetration of wind and solar is likely to challenge the need for balancing in the system as well as the profitability of thermal units. The degree of influence of the unit commitment approach is found to be dependent on the configuration of the energy system. Overall, including unit commitment constraints with integer variables leads to more realistic behaviour of the units, at the cost of increasing considerably the computational time. Relaxing integer variables reduces significantly the computational time, without highly compromising the accuracy of the results. The proposed model, together with the insights from the study case, can be specially useful for system operators for optimal operational planning.


Energies ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 584
Author(s):  
Chiara Magni ◽  
Sylvain Quoilin ◽  
Alessia Arteconi

Flexibility is crucial to enable the penetration of high shares of renewables in the power system while ensuring the security and affordability of the electricity dispatch. In this regard, heat–electricity sector coupling technologies are considered a promising solution for the integration of flexible devices such as thermal storage units and heat pumps. The deployment of these devices would also enable the decarbonization of the heating sector, responsible for around half of the energy consumption in the EU, of which 75% is currently supplied by fossil fuels. This paper investigates in which measure the diffusion of district heating (DH) coupled with thermal energy storage (TES) units can contribute to the overall system flexibility and to the provision of operating reserves for energy systems with high renewable penetration. The deployment of two different DH supply technologies, namely combined heat and power units (CHP) and large-scale heat pumps (P2HT), is modeled and compared in terms of performance. The case study analyzed is the future Italian energy system, which is simulated through the unit commitment and optimal dispatch model Dispa-SET. Results show that DH coupled with heat pumps and CHP units could enable both costs and emissions related to the heat–electricity sector to be reduced by up to 50%. DH systems also proved to be a promising solution to grant the flexibility and resilience of power systems with high shares of renewables by significantly reducing the curtailment of renewables and cost-optimally providing up to 15% of the total upward reserve requirements.


Author(s):  
Catalina Spataru ◽  
Andreas Koch ◽  
Pierrick Bouffaron

This chapter provides a discussion of current multi-scale energy systems expressed by a multitude of data and simulation models, and how these modelling approaches can be (re)designed or combined to improve the representation of such system. It aims to address the knowledge gap in energy system modelling in order to better understand its existing and future challenges. The frontiers between operational algorithms embedded in hardware and modelling control strategies are becoming fuzzier: therefore the paradigm of modelling intelligent urban energy systems for the future has to be constantly evolving. The chapter concludes on the need to build a holistic, multi-dimensional and multi-scale framework in order to address tomorrow's urban energy challenges. Advances in multi-scale methods applied to material science, chemistry, fluid dynamics, and biology have not been transferred to the full extend to power system engineering. New tools are therefore necessary to describe dynamics of coupled energy systems with optimal control.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2164
Author(s):  
Vahid Arabzadeh ◽  
Peter D. Lund

Heat demand dominates the final energy use in northern cities. This study examines how changes in heat demand may affect solutions for zero-emission energy systems, energy system flexibility with variable renewable electricity production, and the use of existing energy systems for deep decarbonization. Helsinki city (60 °N) in the year 2050 is used as a case for the analysis. The future district heating demand is estimated considering activity-driven factors such as population increase, raising the ambient temperature, and building energy efficiency improvements. The effect of the heat demand on energy system transition is investigated through two scenarios. The BIO-GAS scenario employs emission-free gas technologies, bio-boilers and heat pumps. The WIND scenario is based on large-scale wind power with power-to-heat conversion, heat pumps, and bio-boilers. The BIO-GAS scenario combined with a low heat demand profile (−12% from 2018 level) yields 16% lower yearly costs compared to a business-as-usual higher heat demand. In the WIND-scenario, improving the lower heat demand in 2050 could save the annual system 6–13% in terms of cost, depending on the scale of wind power.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Dominković ◽  
Goran Krajačić

The energy transition of future urban energy systems is still the subject of an ongoing debate. District energy supply can play an important role in reducing the total socio-economic costs of energy systems and primary energy supply. Although lots of research was done on integrated modelling including district heating, there is a lack of research on integrated energy modelling including district cooling. This paper addressed the latter gap using linear continuous optimization model of the whole energy system, using Singapore for a case study. Results showed that optimal district cooling share was 30% of the total cooling energy demand for both developed scenarios, one that took into account spatial constraints for photovoltaics installation and the other one that did not. In the scenario that took into account existing spatial constraints for installations, optimal capacities of methane and thermal energy storage types were much larger than capacities of grid battery storage, battery storage in vehicles and hydrogen storage. Grid battery storage correlated with photovoltaics capacity installed in the energy system. Furthermore, it was shown that successful representation of long-term storage solutions in urban energy models reduced the total socio-economic costs of the energy system for 4.1%.


2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 06014
Author(s):  
Andrew Lyden ◽  
Paul Tuohy

Decentralised energy systems provide the potential for adding energy system flexibility by separating demand/supply dynamics with demand side management and storage technologies. They also offer an opportunity for implementing technologies which enable sector coupling benefits, for example, heat pumps with controls set to use excess wind power generation. Gaps in this field relating to planning-level modelling tools have previously been identified: thermal characteristic modelling for thermal storage and advanced options for control. This paper sets out a methodology for modelling decentralised energy systems including heat pumps and thermal storage with the aim of assisting planning-level design. The methodology steps consist of: 1) thermal and electrical demand and local resource assessment methods, 2) energy production models for wind turbines, PV panels, fuel generators, heat pumps, and fuel boilers, 3) bi-directional energy flow models for simple electrical storage, hot water tank thermal storage with thermal characteristics, and a grid-connection, 4) predictive control strategy minimising electricity cost using a 24-hour lookahead, and 5) modelling outputs. Contributions to the identified gaps are examined by analysing the sensible thermal storage model with thermal characteristics and the use of the predictive control. Future extensions and applications of the methodology are discussed.


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