Volume 23: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part VI

Modelling of Electrical-Thermal-Hydraulic System Interdependencies in 5th Generation District Heating and Cooling Networks Jonathan Amirmadhi, Muditha Abeysekera, Jianzhong Wu

Abstract

This work presents a method for steady state modelling and simulation of 5th Generation District Heating and Cooling (5GDHC) Networks. The method allows to characterise interdependencies between electrical, thermal, and hydraulic parameters for different 5GDHC network configurations. Two case studies, one with free floating network temperature, and the second with active network temperature control are demonstrated. Simulation results show that the electrical power consumption of Water Source Heat Pumps (WSHP) at demand substations are highly sensitive to the balance of heating and cooling loads when the network is operated with free-floating temperatures. In both cases, it was shown that the total electrical power consumption of the network is minimised when the heat injection and extraction applied by the WSHPs is balanced.

Keywords 5th generation district heating and cooling, 5GDHC, low temperature heat network, balanced energy network, cooling network, heat pump