Energy, Economic and Quality of Service assessment using Dynamic Modelling and Optimization for Smart Management of District Heating networks

Based on the relevance of Heat as one of the primary end-uses of energy in a city and the still small amount of literature on the transition of District Heating (DH) into Smart Thermal Networks, the main objective of the present research is to propose a novel model for system management of DH by combining Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization tools. This with the aim to be a proof of concept that demonstrates the possibility of DH systems to transition into Smart Thermal Networks and their capabilities of integration into the Smart City model. The present research takes the electricity smart grid as the starting point to propose a new model of DH system management named Dynamic Optimization of DH for its Transition to Smart Networks (DOTS). This model is constituted by three parts: the modeling of DH networks, the optimization of DH systems, and the evaluation of DH systems. The modeling approach is based on the physical modeling of DH networks using Oriented Graphs and a variation of the Finite Volumes method. The optimization is divided into two steps: The Dispatch optimization using linear programming formulation, and the Generation Temperature optimization using non-linear programming formulation. The evaluation of DH is done through energy, economic and, new to DH, Quality of Service (QoS) indicators. To account for the dynamics of heat distribution, the present research proposes the use of a new operative indicator named the Pipe Supply Factor (PSF) to allow the network to consider the delay times and the thermal inertia of the system. (author)