Ecological and economic evaluation of district heating and combined heat and power in a energy system based on renewable sources

The energy supply is increasingly fed by renewable energy systems characterized by volatile feed-ins. As a result, the power and heat sectors cannot be evaluated independently from each another. On the contrary, just the combination of both sectors gives the possibility to better balance fluctuations in demand and generation.

In an energy supply characterized by renewable energies, district heating and combined heat and power plants will increasingly be exposed to continually changing framework conditions. In order to evaluate ideal regional configurations with respect to ecology and economy within this context, a combined heat and power model shall be developed. The core of the model is a detailed regional component, which describes the local district heating conduits, the power plants and the storage elements. Through an interface based on electricity and natural gas, the regional component shall be directly connected to a supra-regional model which reflects the limited capacities of the transmission systems. In this way, it is possible to represent the future development of, for example, balancing energy.

As part of the project the modelling framwork oemof (open energy system modelling framework) is developed.

The project’s objective is to evaluate the possible contribution of district heating and combined heat and power plants to an economic transformation towards an energy supply that is stable and emits less CO2.