Demand response events in district heating: Results from field tests in a university building

Abstract

Demand side management will play a major role in future energy systems. However, while they have been explored in some depth for electricity grids, a similar progress has not been made for district heating networks (DHN). To this end, the current work field-tested the effect of demand side management, in the form of price based, demand response (DR) events, in the DHN catering to a university building. Responding to variations in a pricing model, the temperature of inlet water was varied from the heating water substation. Using combinations of parameters, 11 different DR scenarios were executed. To gauge the effect of the DR interventions, inlet water temperature, room air temperature, and occupant satisfaction were monitored. Depending on the constraints imposed, significant variations in the inlet water temperature and peaks and drops in the room air temperature were noted. The different DR scenarios did not greatly alter occupant satisfaction levels. The study was able to provide useful data from field tests of DR events in a DHN. The data also showed that price based DR events may be triggered and executed without significantly impacting occupant satisfaction with thermal comfort of the premises.

Smart City Resilience with Active Citizen Engagement in Helsinki

“…This depends on the structure of the hydronic system. Mishra et al (2019) studied the effect of centralised control on room air temperature in a similar office building as presented in Publication I and Publication II and found that variations in the circulating water temperature can be measured with a short time-lag after in the rooms. However, load shifting at the substation also should be timed in a manner that it benefits the heat supplier.…”

“…Furthermore, differences in building components, occupant patterns and other unpredictable conditions related to buildings could affect indoor conditions in a way that is challenging to model accurately. On the implementation side, studies with limited floor area in a building, such as Mishra et al (2019) as well as Publication I and II. Field studies with a limited number of buildings, including work from Wernstedt et al (2007), Österlind (1982), Kensby et al (2015), Sweetnam et al (2019), Kärkkäinen et al (2003) and Publication IV are commonly exploited for validating those strategies.…”

Interactive Buildings: A Review

“…Campus level interactions with both the water network and the district heating network shows potential in heating load flexibility. In a price induced demand response scheme for a district heating network in a university campus, substations participated by changing their inlet water temperature while monitoring the occupant's thermal comfort [121].…”

Demand response potential of district heating and ventilation in an educational office building

“…Dynamic pricing is considered to be the most efficient pricing program to combine with the demand response (Hu et al, 2015). Mishra et al, (2019) demonstrated the effects of centralized demand response control of district heating on indoor thermal conditions and 4 perceived thermal comfort by using field tests in a university building. Thus, the performance of demand response on buildings can be improved with smart control strategies.…”