Future compatibility of district heating in urban areas — a case study analysis in the context of integrated spatial and energy planning

Abstract

Background: District heating is widely used for thermal energy supply and offers a broad range of benefits like the possibility to integrate decentral heat supply technologies or to foster the utilisation of renewable energy sources. Thus, district heating has the potential to gradually contribute to a more sustainable thermal energy supply and to consequently facilitate the energy turn. However, due to specific requirements of this technology, strategic planning is required for the successful implementation of district heating networks. Previous research mainly focuses on either economic, environmental, or technological aspects of district heating. This study therefore aims to execute a comprehensive assessment of district heating systems in the following four sections: (1) integrated spatial and energy planning, (2) costs, (3) resources and (4) environment and climate. Methods: To this end, the recently developed Eco.District.Heat kit (EDHk) is used to evaluate and rate eight case studies consisting of 14 different urban typologies, while considering the aforementioned sections of interest. The paper applies the EDHk to assess different spatial structures and grid configurations as well as a broad mix of different thermal energy sources. Results: With regard to integrated spatial and energy planning (section 1), the assessment shows heterogenous ratings whereas the case studies exhibit quite constant positive ratings with regard to costs (2), environment and climate (4). Although a lot of material is used for the construction of networks (i.e. resources, section 3), the question whether or not to dismantle old grids for resource utilisation cannot be answered definitely. According to our results, future development scenarios in the context of climate change and building renovation until 2050 have little influence on the final ratings. Conclusions: Based on the comprehensive assessment of eight case studies, it can be concluded that district heating systems offer a long-term and sustainable solution of heat supply for different spatial archetypes and types of urban fabrics. Furthermore, the proposed methodology allows users to critically examine planned projects and to detect shortcomings at an early planning stage. The EDHk thus provides a suitable methodology to support strategic decisions in integrated spatial and energy planning.

Interdisciplinary decision support model for grid-bound heat supply systems in urban areas

“…Here, project-and site-specific data can be entered, whereas the basic information required for the evaluation of selected attributes is separated and can be shown when required. Based on the approach of [62], case study areas of already existing and planned DHNs were used to analyze whether the model is fully functional and leads to realistic results. Resulting from this, the model was continuously improved.…”

“…Finally, the applicability of the model as well as the reliability of its results were tested, based on eight heterogeneous case study areas in Austria (see [62]). Additional insights and findings had been incorporated into the model and completed the development of the EDHk in June 2018.…”

Factors influencing the environmental and economic feasibility of district heating systems—a perspective from integrated spatial and energy planning

“…), economic analysis, and the materials' input. According to this approach, a tool was developed [46] and tested [47] regarding its functionality and usability towards the long-term feasibility of DHS. It can be expected that from this tool, the motivation to start dealing with district heating increases and projects especially in smaller communities can be developed.…”

“…How this system analysis can be transferred into a decision support model is described in [46]. Examples for application and lessons learned are presented in [47].…”

Integrating Energy Demand and Local Renewable Energy Sources in Smart Urban Development Zones: New Options for Climate-Friendly Resilient Urban Planning

“…On the other hand, heat densities will decrease, unless building density is increased. Although the influencing factors are diverse and partially hardly to predict, an assessment of the future feasibility of district heating on a concrete area can be performed [55,56] The results show that the annual profiles of supply and demand, resulting from the use of locally-available renewable sources such as solar heat, wastewater heat, waste heat from offices or outside air, and considering a large share of domestic heating consumption, show large deviations from each other. Dimensioning the plants to the winter case would not be economically feasible, therefore, storages have to be implemented.…”