Energy concepts

District heating networks are currently undergoing a massive change. Large power plants are no longer being planned and conceptualized with a constant heat supply. Instead, different renewable sources, waste heat and other more flexible ways of energy conversion such as heat pumps and CHP units are combined. For this purpose, the heat conversion happens not just in one central location, but it can be distributed throughout the thermal network. Thermal storages balance demand and supply.

During the planning of district heating networks, this often results in various combinations and thus multiple options for the dimensioning of the energy system. Different temperatures, limits of operation (e.g., output of geothermal energy), and especially the sector coupling between electricity, heat, and possibly hydrogen add further complexity to new energy concepts. Conventional planning methods with maximum power, static yearly energy balances or annual duration curves only represent a part of the complexity.

Using our heatbeat Digital Twin, we model all different possibilities of energy conversion in the network in detail. We can do this already during the concept phase in which we implement a basic controller, individually adaptable to your project. We simulate every energy system with at least hourly resolution. Our automated approach allows us to evaluate a variety of different combinations. We use the primary energy factor, the CO2 emissions and compare these with the investments or the annual costs of VDI 2067. This provides an ideal foundation for decision-making for the next planning steps. Being highly flexible and versatile, the heatbeat Digital Twin can then refine the models in the next steps and perform sensitivity analyses on individual solutions.