HOT|COOL NO. 4/2018 - "Emerging District Heating Markets"

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COLLABORATIVE APPROACH In close collaboration with ABB, including a series of workshops, meetings and a field trip to Helsinki, Finland, to study a similar installation, we gained a better understanding of the requirements that allowed our joint project team to come up with a proof of concept. It is one thing to display some data on an excel sheet, but when you can visualize it, you can gain a greater comprehension of how it can give more value to your end-customer - seeing is believing! A pilot was developed that demonstrated the ability to deliver the required results. It was a success, and we are now working to transform these achievements into a real usable system that can bring customers value. We have discussed the results with our partners and developed some key performance indicators (KPIs) that we collectively thought would offer benefits to our customers. We came up with six KPIs, some of these as a PowerPoint presentation, to help customers to understand how we envisaged the scenario going forward. That was the kind of proof of concept they needed, because they could see that we could deliver the level of visualization needed to bring some value. The next step is to ensure that all the data required to achieve this is available, and if not, where best to target the investment to deliver this data.

DISTRICT HEATING To control Västerås’s district heating system there was a need for accurate, real-time information. To enable effective control, we first needed good visualization of the network because currently our operators don't have much information to help them optimise the network, even though they manage a lot of production. We believe that there are significant benefits offered by digitalization and cloud solutions to create smart solutions with data. Armed with this visualization, which provides the operators with a full, complete picture of consumers and their needs, it will be possible to identify the bottlenecks. Västerås Heat and Power Plant is the largest in Sweden and one of the cleanest in Europe. By producing electricity and heat simultaneously, a very high level of efficiency is achieved. A massive 90 % of the fuel's energy content can be utilized in the process. By way of comparison, a steam power plant that solely produces electrical energy only utilizes around 40 % of the fuel's energy content. In total, the combined heat and power (CHP) plant comprises four separate blocks, which consist of a boiler and a turbine and a fifth block with just a boiler. Production is primarily performed using renewable biofuels and amounts to 700 GWh of electricity and 1,800 GWh of heat annually. A new boiler for heat and power is under construction and will, when operational in 2020, use recycled wood as a fuel. All of the management of heat, cooling, and electricity takes place in the control room at the CHP plant. The district heating is produced from the CHP plant, and it spreads out over the city of Västerås. It is a large district heating network that began its life in the 1950’s and now spreads all over the city with over 900 kilometers of pipes.

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