The following section gives information on the energy balance of district heating systems and energy savings that can be incurred when various district heating options using different fuel inputs and heat generation technologies are compared.
The energy balance of district heating in comparison to individual heating systems is influenced by
The figures below show the wide variety of the primary energy balances. The following systems are compared:
Heat supply system | Abbreviation |
---|---|
Gas condensing boiler (individual supply) | Reference |
District heating with steam network and coal heating plant (inefficient DH) | DH/SN/coal ineff CHP |
District heating with steam network and coal CHP plant (inefficient DH network but efficient heat source) | DH/SN/eff coal CHP |
District heating with steam network and gas CHP plant (backpressure turbine) | DH/SN/gas CHP |
District heating with water network and gas heating plant (efficient DH network but inefficient heat source) | DH/WN/gas HOB |
District heating with water network and coal CHP plant | DH/WN/eff coal CHP |
District heating with water network and gas CHP plant (backpressure turbine) | DH/WN/gas CHP |
District heating with water network and 50 MW gas combined-cycle CHP plant | DH/WN/gas CC 50 MW |
District heating with water network (only 10% heat losses) and 100 MW gas combined-cycle CHP plant | DH/WN/gas CC 100 MW |
District heating with water network and biomass CHP plant | DH/WN/biomass CHP |
District heating with water network and waste heat | DH/WN/waste heat |
Steam network is classified as to have 30% heat losses and water network as to have 15% heat losses of the heat input to the district heating system. The amount of energy savings and CO2 emissions reductions of a district heating scheme with a CHP plant will also depend on the reference power generator. The figures below show the wide variety of the primary energy balances with coal power plants and gas power plants as reference.
The selection of the appropriate comparison, i.e., reference coal vs reference gas depends on the main power generation source of a given country or more precisely on the power generation source which will be usually displaced by the operation of the CHP. For example, space heating CHP-plants in Germany displace primarily the coal power generation. When coal power plant is taken as reference, the CHP on base of combined cycle (CC) in combination with efficient district heating leads to a particular high primary energy savings. When the reference is gas power plant, CHP-technology remains an advantage in comparison to separated gas power and gas heat generation especially if the CHP bases on CC.
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