Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Thermo-economic and environmental analysis of integrating renewable energy sources in a district heating and cooling network

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Energy Efficiency Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper presents the technical, environmental, and economic evaluation of integrating various combinations of renewable energy sources-based systems in the expansion of a district heating and cooling network of a Technology Park near Barcelona in Spain. At present, a combined heat and power plant running on fossil fuels serves the heating, cooling, and electricity demand of the Park. However, this energy demand is expected to increase substantially in the coming years. EnergyPRO software was used to model the energy demand growth till 2030. Validation of the software application was done by making a base model using real plant data from the year 2014. The software was then used to project the energy supply based on three 15-year scenarios, having different combinations of renewable energy technologies, from 2016 until 2030. Primary energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and the net present value obtained in each scenario were used to decide the best combinations of renewable energy sources. The results of the study showed that presently, biomass boilers combined with absorption chillers and supported with solar thermal cooling are the most competitive technologies in comparison to ground source heat pumps for large DHC networks. This is mainly because of the lower primary energy consumption (624,380 MWh/year in 2030 vs. 665,367 MWh/year), higher net present value (NPV) (222 million € vs. 178 million €), and lower CO2 emissions (107,753 tons/year in 2030 vs. 111,166 tons/year) obtained as a result of the simulations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ηel :

Electrical efficiency (%)

ηth :

Thermal efficiency (%)

c:

Cooling

h:

Heating

th:

Thermal

el:

Electric

BAU:

Business as usual

CAPEX:

Capital expenditure

CHP:

Combined heat and power

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

COP:

Coefficient of performance

DH:

District heating

DHC:

District heating and cooling

EBITDA:

Earnings before interests, taxes depreciation, and amortization

EU:

European Union

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

GSHPs:

Ground source heat pumps

IT:

Information technology

KPIs:

Key performance indicators

NZEBs:

Net zero energy buildings

P & L:

Profit and loss

PEF:

Primary energy factor

PTCs:

Parabolic trough collectors

RES:

Renewable energy sources

SCBC:

Solar cooling and biomass cooling

TES:

Thermal energy storage

References

  • Ajuntament de Barcelona (2002). “Pla de Millora Energética de Barcelona”, Barcelona.

  • Angrisani, G., Diglio, G., Sasso, M., Calise, F., & Dentice d’Accadia, M. (2016). Design of a novel geothermal heating and cooling system: energy and economic analysis. Energy Conversion and Management, 108, 144–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arslan, O., & Kose, R. (2010). Exergoeconomic optimization of integrated geothermal system in Simav, Kutahya. Energy Conversion and Management, 51(4), 663–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baghernejad, A., Yaghoubi, M., & Jafarpur, K. (2016). Exergoeconomic optimization and environmental analysis of a novel solar-trigeneration system for heating, cooling and power production purpose. Solar Energy, 134, 165–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boissavy, C. (2015). “Cost and return on investment for geothermal heat pump systems in France”, no. April, pp. 19–25.

  • Buoro, D., Pinamonti, P., & Reini, M. (2014). Optimization of a distributed cogeneration system with solar district heating. Applied Energy, 124, 298–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dagdougui, H., Minciardi, R., Ouammi, A., Robba, M., & Sacile, R. (2012). Modeling and optimization of a hybrid system for the energy supply of a green building. Energy Conversion and Management, 64, 351–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dapena, C. (2016). “Consorci Urbanístic del Centre Direccional de Cerdanyola del Vallès ,Parc de l’Alba (personal communication)”.

  • De Carli, M., Galgaro, A., Pasqualetto, M., & Zarrella, A. (2014). Energetic and economic aspects of a heating and cooling district in a mild climate based on closed loop ground source heat pump. Applied Thermal Engineering, 71(2), 895–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • E. y T. Ministerio de Industria (2014). “Factores de emisión de CO2 y coeficientes de paso a energía primaria de diferentes fuentes de energía final consumidas en el sector de edificios en España (in Spanish)”.

  • EMD International A/S (1998). “EnergyPRO”.

  • European Central Bank (2010). “Monetary policy”.

  • European Commission (2014a). “Buildings - European commission,” Energy.

  • European Commission (2014b). “Energy requirements for IT equipment - Renewit : Renewit”.

  • European Commission (2015). “EUR-Lex - 32012 L0027 - EN - EUR-Lex”.

  • European Commission (2017). “2030 climate & energy framework _ climate action”.

  • FuturENERGY (2016). “Hospital de Mollet, energy efficiency and sustainability - FuturEnergy”.

  • Gunn, J. S., Ganz, D. J., & Keeton, W. S. (2012). Biogenic vs. geologic carbon emissions and forest biomass energy production. GCB Bioenergy, 4(3), 239–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkaki-Fard, A., Eslami-Nejad, P., Aidoun, Z., & Ouzzane, M. (2015). A techno-economic comparison of a direct expansion ground-source and an air-source heat pump system in Canadian cold climates. Energy, 87, 49–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institut Català d’Energia (ICAEN) (2010). “Guia de desenvolupament de projectes de xarxes de Districte de Calor i Frio”.

  • International Energy Agency (IEA) (2014). “Technology roadmap - solar photovoltaic energy”.

  • International Energy Agency (IEA) (2015). Energy policies of IEA countries - Spain 2015 Review.

  • Kazagic, A., Merzic, A., Redzic, E., & Tresnjo, D. (2019). Optimization of modular district heating solution based on CHP and RES - demonstration case of the municipality of Visoko. Energy, 181, 56–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keçebaş, A., & Hepbasli, A. (2014). Conventional and advanced exergoeconomic analyses of geothermal district heating systems. Energy and Buildings, 69, 434–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LOGSTOR (2019). “Calculator for insulation on LOGSTOR pipes.” [Online]. Available: https://www.logstor.com/service-support/tools/logstor-calculator. [Accessed: 09-Jun-2019].

  • Lund, H., Šiupšinskas, G., & Martinaitis, V. (2005). Implementation strategy for small CHP-plants in a competitive market: the case of Lithuania. Applied Energy, 82(3), 214–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez, M. E. and Martín-gómez, C. (2013). “Reasons why district energy systems were not extended in Spain”, in 39th World Congress on Housing Science Changing Needs, Adaptive Buildings, Smart Cities. Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

  • Nielsen, S., & Möller, B. (2012). Excess heat production of future net zero energy buildings within district heating areas in Denmark. Energy, 48(1), 23–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Østergaard, P. A. (2012). Comparing electricity, heat and biogas storages’ impacts on renewable energy integration. Energy, 37(1), 255–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rämä, M., & Wahlroos, M. (2018). Introduction of new decentralised renewable heat supply in an existing district heating system. Energy, 154, 68–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rammsy, A. (2016). “Absolicon solar collectors AB (personal communication, 2016)”. Stockholm.

  • Ross, S., Westerfield, R., & Jordan, B. (2014). Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, T. and Miedaner, O. (2012). “Solar district heating guidelines - Storage,” Solar district heating guidelines.

  • Shirazi, A., Taylor, R. A., White, S. D., & Morrison, G. L. (2016). A systematic parametric study and feasibility assessment absorption chillers for heating and cooling applications. Energy Conversion and Management, 114, 258–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soltero, V.M. (2016). “Evaluation of the potential for district heating cogeneration in Spain as a tool for economy decarbonization,” pp. 1–21.

  • Spain: electricity prices for households (2010–2018). | Statistic. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/418085/electricity-prices-for-households-in-spain/. [Accessed: 08-Jun-2019].

  • Streckiene, G., Martinaitis, V., Andersen, A. N., and Katz, J. (2009). “Feasibility of CHP-plants with thermal stores in the German spot market,” vol. 86, pp. 2308–2316.

  • Tan, M. and Keçebas, A. (2014). “Thermodynamic and economic evaluations of a geothermal district heating system using advanced exergy-based methods,” vol. 77, pp. 504–513.

  • Torchio, M. F. (2015). Comparison of district heating CHP and distributed generation CHP with energy, environmental and economic criteria for Northern Italy. Energy Conversion and Management, 92, 114–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulseth, R. and Pedersen, L. (2006). “Method for load modelling of heat and electricity demand”, in 10th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling, no. September.

  • Wang, H., Yin, W., Abdollahi, E., Lahdelma, R., & Jiao, W. (2015). Modelling and optimization of CHP based district heating system with renewable energy production and energy storage. Applied Energy, 159, 401–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

The paper has been written in the framework of the Smart ReFlex project (Smart and Flexible 100% Renewable District Heating and Cooling Systems for European Cities), co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the European Union by means of Grant Agreement number IEE/13/434/SI2.674873. As a consequence, the EnergyPRO software, which is sponsored by EMD International A/S for SMARTREFLEX, has been used to develop energy calculations. Carlos Dapena, Project Manager from Consorci Urbanístic del Centre Direccional de Cerdanyola del Vallès (Parc de l’ Alba), and José Antonio Gómez, General Manager of ST4 Plant in Parc de l’Alba from Grupo San José, have contributed providing data about real performance and future development planning of DHC in Parc de l’Alba.

The authors are thus thankful to all the aforementioned entities and persons who have contributed indirectly to the writing of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ability R&D Energy Research Centre (AERC), School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Muhammad Asim & Michael K. H. Leung

  2. School of Engineering, University of Management and Technology, C-II, Johar Town, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Asim

  3. Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    Saad Saleem

  4. Mechanical Engineering & Design, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK

    Muhammad Imran

  5. Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    Syed Asad Hussain

  6. Fundació Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya (IREC), Jardins de les Dones de Negre, 1, 2ª pl, 08930, Sant Adrià de Besòs, Barcelona, Spain

    Laura Sisó Miró

  7. Turbulence and Aerodynamics Research Group (TUAREG), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, ESEIAAT, Colom 11, 08222, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    Ivette Rodríguez

Authors
  1. Muhammad Asim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Saad Saleem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muhammad Imran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael K. H. Leung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Syed Asad Hussain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Laura Sisó Miró
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ivette Rodríguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Asim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix

Appendix

For the ST-4 plant at Parc de l’ Alba, revenues from heating, cooling and electricity sales comprise of capacity payments and a variable price. Additionally, heating and cooling sale revenues comprise of a connection payment. The connection costs are paid just once whenever a new consumer in Parc de l’ Alba signs an agreement to buy heating and cooling from the plant. The capacity payment refers to payment made every year by the consumer in accordance with the power they have contracted from the plant. Finally, the variable price is payment made by the consumer for each unit of energy purchased.

Table 19 and Table 20 show details of all these revenues for the year 2015.

Table 19 Revenues from heating and cooling sales at Parc de l' Alba for base model (2015)
Full size table
Table 20 Revenues from electricity sales at Parc de l' Alba for base model (2015)
Full size table

All expenses of the plant are shown in Table 21 and Table 22 for 2015. Note that Parc de l’ Alba pays only the marginal electricity production cost when it buys from the electric grid and hence the large difference between the revenue it earns per unit energy by selling to the grid, compared to what it pays per unit when it needs to purchase from the grid.

Table 21 Fuel expenses at Parc de l' Alba in 2015
Full size table
Table 22 Maintenance expenses at Parc de l' Alba in 2015
Full size table

Fuel prices provided to the EnergyPRO models from 2016 to 2030 are shown in Table 23 (Dapena 2016).

Table 23 Fuel prices in Parc de l' Alba from 2016 till 2030
Full size table

The specifications of different categories of energy consumers at Parc de l’ Alba, including current and future ones, are shown in Table 24 , including the year in which they will be connected to the DHC network.

Table 24 Details of expected energy consumers of Parc de l' Alba till 2030
Full size table

EnergyPRO does not have the capability to dimension the distribution network because the return and supply temperatures of the fluids in the network cannot be input to the simulation models. For this purpose, LOGSTOR calculator, which is an internet-based program, was used for calculating the heating and cooling line losses. The major information used for calculating the losses is shown in Table 25. Note that the various sections of the DHC network had varying pipe diameters.

Table 25 Parameters for calculating transmission and distribution losses for Parc de l' Alba
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Asim, M., Saleem, S., Imran, M. et al. Thermo-economic and environmental analysis of integrating renewable energy sources in a district heating and cooling network. Energy Efficiency 13, 79–100 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09832-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09832-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation