Publications – RELaTED Project

The desing of Triple Function Substations in combination with RELaTED technologies

Ultra-Low temperature district heating introduces multiple benefits at network level, as the reduction of heat losses and the improvement of heat generation efficiency. ULTDH also facilitates the integration of low temperatures renewable energy sources and waste heat into the district heating network. Renewable heat sources as solar thermal and heat pumps can be coupled to the district heating network and the buildings through specially designed district heating substations. Some images of the Microbooster and BILTST demonstration in Taastrup, Denmark. During the development of the RELaTED project, several Triple Function Substations (3FS) have been evaluated and designed. Those were investigated in different versions, connection schemes configurations and operating modes depending on the district heating characteristics, the building types and [...]

webmaster2021-02-18T12:59:29+00:00February 18th, 2021|Public documents|

District Heating De-Carbonisation in Belgrade. Multi-Year transition plan

The present article, presented at Beyond 2020 digital event, summarizes the renovation plans for the District Heating network of the city of Belgrade. The paper includes the criteria for the selection of the technologies, the identification of enabling investments, interaction with stakeholders, securing of financing, and status of the plan. AUTHORS: Antonio Garrido Marijuan, TECNALIA, Roberto Garay, TECNALIA, Mikel Lumbreras, ENEDI Research Group, Ljubisa Vladic and Radmilo Savić, Beogradske Elektrane. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER >> Capacity and location of the main central plants of the Belgrade DH (Source: BE Management and Deloitte analysis). A large share of the city of Belgrade is heated by a District Heating network. Established in 1965, the network delivers 3.6 TWh to more than 20 [...]

webmaster2020-12-03T12:18:44+00:00December 3rd, 2020|Conference and scientific journals, Publications|

Energy meters in District-Heating Substations for Heat Consumption Characterization and Prediction Using Machine-Learning Techniques

The use of smart energy meters enables the monitoring of large quantity of data related to heat consumption patterns in buildings connected to DH networks. This information can be used to understand the interaction between building and the final users´ without accurate information about building characteristics and occupational rates. In this paper, presented at Beyond 2020 digital event, an intuitive and clarifier data-driven model is presented, which couples heat demand and weather variables. This model enables the disaggregation of Space-Heating & Domestic Hot water demand, characterization of the total heat demand and the forecasting for the next hours. Simulations for 53 building have been carried out, with satisfactory results for most of them, reaching R2 values above 0.9 in some [...]

webmaster2020-11-04T13:04:03+00:00November 4th, 2020|Conference and scientific journals, Publications|

Data driven process for the energy assessment of building envelope retrofits

In the paper “Data driven process for the energy assessment of building envelope retrofits”, a novel method is proposed based on whole-building heat load assessment by means of heat meters, and analytical calculations of building envelope transmission heat load coefficients. […]

webmaster2020-10-16T10:40:07+00:00October 16th, 2020|Conference and scientific journals, Publications|

Energy & economic assessment of façade-integrated solar thermal systems combined with ultra-low temperature district-heating

Authors: Roberto Garay, project coordinator of RELaTED and Mikel Lumbreras, researcher at TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA). This paper, published in the journal Renewable Energy (Volume 159, October 2020, Pages 1000-1014), conducts an energy and economic assessment of District Heating (DH) integrated Solar Thermal (ST) systems. An implementation with building-integrated ST collectors coupled to a Low Temperature District Heating (LTDH) system is studied, with special focus on unglazed collectors. ST heat is exploited in the building through direct use, while excess heat is delivered to the network. A novel control strategy for heat flows in the system is proposed. A meta-analysis of several DH configurations, interconnection schemes and installed ST capacity is performed in three different climates: Sevilla (Spain), [...]

webmaster2020-10-16T10:12:53+00:00October 1st, 2020|Conference and scientific journals, Publications|

WEBINAR: The low temperature district heating recording is now available

Watch and listen to the Low Temperature District Heating webinar, hosted by Celsius Initiative in partnership with COOL DH. Learn about how smart cities can transition to low temperature district heating, by the hand of Christian Holm Christiansen, Senior Consultant at the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), and RELaTED Project partner. Decarbonised district heating systems are already here. As a matter of fact, low temperature district heating can prove to be an important part in keeping the globe’s temperature low as well. This webinar presents some of the opportunities and challenges cities may encounter in their endeavour towards a sustainable and efficient energy system. It covers how to plan for the deployment of new DHC systems, as well as the extension and refurbishing [...]

webmaster2020-05-07T13:18:08+00:00May 7th, 2020|Videos|

New posibilities for ultra-low temperature district heating in corporate district heating networks

Olga Macias, researcher in the field of energy eficiency in buildings in Tecnalia, explains the intervention developed by the RELaTED project in the demonstration site of Iurreta (Spain), in order to test the posibilites of the ultra-low temperature district heating systems in a corporate building complex. Tecnalia coordinates the RELaTED project which aims to develop an innovative concept of desentralized ultra-low temperature district heating networks. This new concept will be tested in four demonstrations sites, in Denmark, Serbia, Estonia and Spain. The Spanish project is located in Iurreta, in the North of Spain. This site is a policial base owned by the Department of Security of the Basque Goverment. The based consists on a total of thirteen buildings with diferent [...]

webmaster2020-03-12T15:11:42+00:00March 12th, 2020|Publications, Videos|

Metering and billing of consumption in ultra-low temperature district heating systems

In general, metering of district heating consumption in ultra-low temperature district heating (ULT DH) systems is not different from traditional district heating. However, when electricity is used to boost DHW temperature, this share of the DHW production is no longer metered by the district heating company, or must be metered separately by an additional electricity meter. This information has been extracted from the section 5 of the document D.2.2. Interconnection schemes for consumer installations. DOWNLOAD THIS DOCUMENT HERE >> Figure 3: principle of metering in ULT DH systems with electric booster In this case, there might be different ways to bill the consumer. One option is that the consumer is just billed the district heating consumption with usual [...]

webmaster2020-06-01T16:56:21+00:00February 27th, 2020|Public documents, Publications|

Main strategic and economic issues of ULT district heating for new development areas

The following article is resuming the main strategic and economic issues to be considered in developing new ultra-low temperature district heating (ULT DH) for new development areas. This information has been extracted from the document entitled D2.5 - Development schemes for new district heating developments. Strategic and integrated energy planning The economy of ULT DH in a new development area must be economical attractive for the company operating the scheme, for the customers and for the society. Strategic energy planning is used on municipality, regional or national level to plan the most viable way to supply and use energy over a longer time horizon. Vision A new development area is typically based on or linked to one or more visions. [...]

webmaster2020-02-19T16:10:41+00:00February 19th, 2020|Publications|

Machine Learning as a solution tool for district heating

In recent years, Machine Learning has become one of the most used techniques when modelling relationships between different parameters. Inspired by the successful integration of Machine Learning in many other areas, it is beginning to draw attention in the district heating sector as well. The application of Machine Learning in the context of district heating has an obvious potential as a component of tomorrows heating networks. Machine learning (ML) is a fast-developing tool that allows you to handle large and complex systems with many parameters and data, with different desires for efficiency. It is a branch of artificial intelligence, and defined by Computer Scientist and machine learning pioneer Tom M. Mitchell in relation to his book Machine Learning (1997) [2] [...]

webmaster2020-02-05T11:01:34+00:00February 5th, 2020|Public documents, Publications|