Energy, Environmental, and Economic Analyses of a District Heating (DH) Network from Both Thermal Plant and End-Users’ Prospective: An Italian Case Study

Erica Corradi, Mosè Rossi, Alice Mugnini, Anam Nadeem, Gabriele Comodi, Alessia Arteconi and Danilo Salvi
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Erica Corradi: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Mosè Rossi: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Alice Mugnini: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Anam Nadeem: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Gabriele Comodi: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Alessia Arteconi: Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Danilo Salvi: Astea S.p.A., 60027 Ancona, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-25

Abstract: District heating (DH) is an alternative technology to Individual Heating (IH) for satisfying end-user’s needs. This paper assesses the competitiveness of a DH network in the center of Italy from energy, environmental, and economic points of view considering both thermal power plant and end-users’ sides. On the thermal power plant side, the energy analysis considers the Primary Energy Saving (PES) and the specific energy (E sp ) of the fuel actually exploited in the thermal power plant compared to its Low Heating Value (LHV), while the environmental analysis considers the avoided CO 2 and the economic analysis considers the Energy Efficiency Certificates (EECs). Results showed that the current thermal power plant configuration with two boilers and a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) unit reaches a yearly PES of 21.3% as well as 1099 tCO 2 avoided. From the economic analysis of the thermal power plant side, 829 EECs with an economic return of 207,222€ are obtained, while from the end-users’ side the DH network is cheaper than IH in 84.7% of the cases. Further technologies are also studied to enhance the CHP unit flexibility.

Keywords: cogeneration plant; district heating network; economic analysis; energy efficiency; environmental analysis; heat pump; thermal energy storage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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