Page 19 - European Energy Innovation - autumn 2019 publication
P. 19
Autumn 2019 European Energy Innovation 19
COMMUNICATION
Digitalisation in district heating
networks: the TEMPO-project
Digitalisation is becoming increasingly The European Horizon 2020-project tables etc. But instead of doing it
intertwined with everyday life, TEMPO is a project in which we manually, in digital heat networks
from transport, to communication, experiment with digitalisation in this is automated, e.g. by machine
sports or education. Also in the district heating networks. The learning or data mining algorithms.
energy sector, more and more digital question of course is what is meant
solutions are present. Currently, by a ‘digital heat network’. What In the TEMPO-project, digitalisation is
the investments in digital energy makes a heat network a digital heat the common thread. In the project,
infrastructure sum up to about 50 network? It should be stressed six technological innovations are
billion dollars, higher than the global that there is no univocal definition developed and tested: an automated
investments in the gas power sector. for this (yet), but some criteria or on-line supervision platform to
In comparison to the electricity conditions should be fulfilled, in detect faults in DH substations;
sector, digitalisation in heating and our opinion. A digital heat network visualisation tools for expert and
cooling networks has not taken off to is a network with a large number non-expert users; a smart network
the same extend yet. Nevertheless, of sensors present in the network. controller to maximize sustainable
in the transition towards the next Also, a digital network includes energy consumption and minimize
generation of networks, digitalisation automated recording, transfer and the return temperature; an innovative
will take a very important role. storage of data, whereby the data piping system; building installation
is analysed automatically. Finally, optimization; and decentralised
Digitalisation will make our networks these analyses are not only used for storage buffers.
more sustainable: it will increase the billing purposes, but also to optimize
share of renewable and excess energy the operation of the network. The These technologies will be
and it will enable the reduction of analysis and visualisation of data is demonstrated in existing and new
temperature levels in the networks. a very important feature of digital district heating networks, in rural as
It will also make networks more heat networks since data as such, well as urban areas. With excitement
reliable, by opening opportunities for a stream of numbers, is of little the project team is looking forward
better safeguarding systems. Finally, it interest. Instead, to get interesting, to the coming winter, when the
will make networks more profitable, data must be transformed into technologies will be tested for
since it can lead to lower heat losses, information. In this form, it can the first time. All information
reduction of expensive fossil fuel be interpreted by humans. This is can be found on our website
consumption and more optimal something that engineers do all the (https://www.tempo-dhc.eu).
usage of heat pumps and CHPs. time: translate numbers into graphs, Stay tuned for the first results! l
Contact information
Dirk Vanhoudt
Senior Researcher District
Heating and Cooling Systems
EnergyVille - VITO
dirk.vanhoudt@vito.be
+32 14 33 59 74
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
