Utrecht, Netherlands
The future energy system will lead to the coupling of various energy carriers (electrons, molecules
and heat) to guarantee a more flexible, reliable and higher-quality system. The coupling between
electrons and heat currently takes place on a smaller scale. Larger-scale coupling between heat
networks and electricity networks cannot be effectively realized at the moment due to a lack of
optimization solutions that make heat production more flexible. For most heating networks in the
Netherlands, the heat demand is therefore leading in the production plan, regardless of the
conditions on the electricity market. This while heat production and a heat network, due to its
thermal mass and reasonable predictability in demand and demand peaks, has a high flexibility
potential.
This project will develop a continuously operating grid simulator and optimization model for heat
networks and production units including STEGs/AVIs/CHPs and heat pumps, in which the energetic
buffer capacity of heat networks is used to maximize the yields on the electricity market minus the
production costs of the heat.