Technical and Economic Assessment of Supermarket and Power Substation Waste Heat Integration into Existing District Heating Systems

Abstract

District heating systems are almost always located in densely populated urban areas where various heat sources are available, such as cooling and refrigeration systems in supermarkets, shopping malls, and power transformers. These urban sources often have a large share of waste heat, which is usually emitted into the environment. This waste heat could be used to partially cover the thermal load in district heating systems. The biggest challenge for their integration is the spatial distribution of urban heat sources in relation to the existing heat network and the temporal distribution of the availability of waste heat energy throughout the year. In this paper, we have developed an economic assessment model for the integration of urban heat sources into existing district heating systems. By the hourly merit order of waste heat utilization technologies based on pinch analysis, we have defined the most suitable integration of urban heat sources into existing district heating systems. Different temperature regimes of the urban source and the existing heat network have been considered. Finally, the method was tested on the case study of a supermarket and power substation located in Zagreb, while the sensitivity analysis was carried out with a focus on various technical and economic boundary conditions.

Achieving Emission Reduction Through the Utilisation of Local Low-Grade Heat Sources in District Heating Networks

“…Inflation is taken into account; thus, the real discount rate can be calculated from the nominal discount rate and inflation rate using Equation (35) [72]:…”

“…Considering Barnsley's older infrastructures, findings indicate that even 70s-era houses can benefit from such DH networks. These networks, with operation temperatures as low as 45 • C for 4GDH [35], permit connection to low-grade heat sources like mine water, in areas like Barnsley with a rich mining history [36 37]. Abandoned coal mines contain groundwater heated by the earth's geothermal gradient and provide an estimated 2.2 million GWh of heat stored below 25 % of UK homes [38 39].…”

“…Currently, only a few large schemes, such as Seaham Garden Village, Gateshead, Hebburn, Holburn, and Caerau, are operational [ 40 41]. The utilisation of these sources within low-temperature networks [35] particularly under the principles of 4th and 5th-generation district heating, presents promising techno-economics and ample opportunities for significant carbon reduction [42 43]. These solutions form an integral part of the broader smart energy systems that encompass integrated systems for electricity, heating, and cooling [27].…”

Design and Operational Optimisation of a Combined Cooling, Heating and Power Plant to Enable Waste Heat Integration into an Existing District Heating Network

“…Dorotić et al perform an economic assessment of waste heat utilisation in an urban area by investigating the available waste heat from supermarkets and power substations. They show that the costs of waste heat integration into district heating systems depend not only on the waste heat process itself, but also on the waste heat temperature and the current temperature level of the district heating system [4]. In [5], the possibilities of integrating solar heat with the help of heat pumps into Helsinki's existing district heating system are examined and evaluated from an economic point of view.…”

Towards Climate Management of District Heating Enterprises’ Innovative Resources

“…Among the difficulties of such integration are the spatial distributions of urban heat sources concerning the existing heating network, and the timing of distribution of waste heat availability throughout the year. In [24], the authors carried out a feasibility study on integrating waste heat from a supermarket and an electrical substation into existing heating systems and developed a model for an economic assessment of the integration of urban heat sources into existing district heating systems. For this, the most appropriate integration of urban heat sources into existing district heating systems was determined (by hourly merit, the order of waste heat utilization technologies based on pinch analysis), and various temperature regimes of the urban source and existing network heat were considered.…”