Optimization of a Local District Heating Plant Under Fuel Flexibility and Performance

Brovst is a small district in Denmark. Based on the case of Brovst, this paper analyses the role of district heating in future Renewable Energy Systems. The present use of fossil fuels in the Brovst DHP (district heating plant) represents an increasing environmental and climate-related load. So, an investigation has been made to reduce the use of fossil fuels for district heating system and make use of the local renewable resources (Biogas, Solar and Geothermal) for district heating purpose. In this article, the techno-economic assessment is achieved through the development of a suite of models that are combined to give cost and performance data for this district heating system. Different local fuels have been analyzed for different perspectives to find the way to optimize the whole integrated system in accordance with fuel availability and cost. This paper represents the energy system analysis mode energyPRO which has been used to analyses the integration of large scale energy system into the domestic district heating system. A model of the current work on the basis of information from the plant (using fossil fuel) is established and named as a reference model. Then different solutions are calculated for various local fuels in energyPRO. A comparison has been made between the reference model and the basis for individual solutions. The greatest reduction in heat price is obtained by replacing one engine with a new biogas where heat production is divided by 66% of biogas, 13% natural gas engines and 21% natural gas boilers.