Design Optimization of a District Heating Network Expansion, a Case Study for the Town of Kiruna

Abstract

Abstract:The urbanization of new areas beyond the existing perimeter of a town implies the expansion of several infrastructures, including the district heating network. The main variables involved in the design of the district heating network expansion are the layout of the new pipes, their diameters, and the capacity of the new heat production sites that are required to satisfy the increased demand of room heating and hot tap water. In this paper, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm is applied to the minimization of the costs related to the expansion of the district heating network of the town of Kiruna, in northern Sweden. The results show that the spectrum of the optimal design compromises between investment costs for the new pipes and the new heat generation site on one side, and operating costs due to overall fuel consumption and pumping power in the network on the other. The presented methodology is a tool meant for the decision makers in the company who own the district heating network, to evaluate all the possible best design alternatives before making a decision.

Optimal Sustainable Transport Solutions Integrated into a Nordic Municipal Energy System

“…A multi-objective optimization problem (MOOP) is formulated in order to minimize simultaneously annual energy system costs and CO 2 emissions. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) implemented in Matlab [56], which has been successfully applied in a number of realengineering problems (most recently on the optimization of a district heating network expansion [57]), is interfaced with EnergyPLAN. The MOEA and a wrapper software (the interface to EnergyPLAN) are adapted to the requirements of this research.…”

Reducing operating costs in district heating systems by optimizing functional parameters. Comparative studies

“…At the same time, the increase in the diameter of the pipe leads to a loss of energy for the transport of the larger thermal agent. In conclusion, the problem of designing district heating networks involves taking into account several aspects, such as reliability, thermohydraulic conditions, availability and cost of the material, energy consumption for pumping and the need for heat [15].…”

Formulation and assessment of multi-objective optimal sizing of district heating network

“…GA are efficient to deal with problems where the underlying physics is complex and with a large and potentially discrete decision space. It makes it efficient to deal with the sizing of the distribution system of a DH system as it was proposed by [14] who presented a method to design the distribution pipes and a heat generator for a new part of an existing DH network that includes 110 pipes. The authors optimized the operational cost (OPEX) and the investment cost (CAPEX) as separated objectives.…”