Low temperature district heating network planning with the focus on distribution energy losses

Abstract

An integrated conceptual planning framework has been developed to assist designing for high resource efficient, low carbon urban district heating systems. This paper focuses on distribution energy losses of a district heating system for an existing urban settlement. The planning framework consists of a methodological approach and a set of simulation tools to investigate two scenarios – low temperature and high temperature district heating networks. In this framework a dynamic building simulation program predicting energy demand of a case study area, an industrial software tool for piping systems design, and a mathematical optimization tool are integrated for assessing energy and exergy losses. Some preliminary results are shown at the end of the paper demonstrating the benefits of low temperature district heating networks and potential of the planning framework