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Dear Colleagues,

The challenge of reaching 100% renewable cities must rely on different technologies for energy production that should be opportunely linked at different levels (country, region, city). District heating connected to thermal storage represents an interesting option to reduce pollutant emissions for house space heating, even more in a Multi-Energy context (heat, electric and gas) since thermal grids represents a cheap buffer for the energy excess (i.e. conversion by power to heat).

Despite thermal storage, district heating and multi-energy systems are expected to play a significant role for an efficient energy supply to buildings, they are still characterized by limitations that require further research efforts. Among the research paths, the following topics are considered to be particularly important:

The use of thermal storage for the optimal integration of waste heat/renewable energy in district heating, in a framework of production/use uncertainty.
The role of thermal storage in the transition of existing district heating towards low temperature levels and multi energy context (also considering the still high cost of large electric storages).
The development of new strongly efficient thermal, electricity and gas networks relying on the advanced technologies currently available.
The barriers/ideas for the evolution of existing district heating systems and/or thermal storages with the aim of increasing their efficiency and reducing the environmental impact at urban/regional scale.
The analysis and optimization of planning/operations of the energy infrastructures (networks and/or storages and/or production/conversion plants) in a Multi-Energy-Systems framework.

This Special Issue will comprise a selection of papers presenting original and innovative contributions on the above bullet points and, in general, in the following main fields:

thermal storage technologies and their integration for urban/building-scale and multi-energy applications;
district heating and multi energy system in the transition towards future sustainable societies.

Papers selected for this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer-review process with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Elisa Guelpa
Guest Editor

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Keywords

district heating systems
thermal storage
multi-energy systems
thermal grid, modelling
optimization
energy infrastructures

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6977 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Investigation of Combined Heating and Cooling Systems with Short- and Long-Term Storages

by Mohammad Shakerin, Vilde Eikeskog, Yantong Li, Trond Thorgeir Harsem, Natasa Nord and Haoran Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5709; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095709 - 9 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1861

Abstract

Modern buildings in cold climates, like Norway, may have simultaneous heating and cooling demands. For these buildings, integrated heating and cooling systems with heat pumps, as well as short-term and long-term thermal storage, are promising solutions. Furthermore, combining this integrated system with renewables aids in the transition to future sustainable building energy systems. However, cost-effectively designing and operating such a complicated system is challenging and rarely addressed. Therefore, this research proposed an integrated heating and cooling system that incorporated a short-term water tank and a long-term borehole thermal storage. Meanwhile, three operating modes: heating, cooling, and free cooling were defined based on different heating and cooling load conditions. A detailed system model was developed in MATLAB using heat pump manufacture data as well as simulated and measured building loads. Following that, sensitivity studies were performed to investigate the impacts of ground properties, thermal storage size, setpoint temperature, heat pump characteristics, and load conditions. The findings identified the crucial factors that influence the system’s overall energy efficiency and the functioning of the key system components. Particularly, it revealed that low cooling to heating ratios caused an imbalance in charging and discharging, further reducing the ground temperature and degrading the heat pump’s performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Energy Storage, District Heating and Optimization in a Multi Energy System Context)

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24 pages, 7780 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Innovative Renewable Technology Integration for Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings within the Re-COGNITION Project

by Giulia Mancò, Elisa Guelpa, Alessandro Colangelo, Alessandro Virtuani, Tommaso Morbiato and Vittorio Verda

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1938; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041938 - 11 Feb 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3129

Abstract

With the 2010/31/EU directive, all new buildings shall be nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEB) from 2020 onward, with the aim of strongly reducing the energy consumption related to the building sector. To achieve this goal, it is not sufficient to focus on the design of the building envelope; smart and efficient energy management is necessary. Moreover, to ensure the adoption of RES systems in the built environment, innovative technologies need to be further developed in order to increase their cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency and integration capability. This paper proposes a synthesis, design and operation optimization of an integrated multi-energy system composed of traditional and innovative renewable technologies, developed within the European project Re-COGNITION. A biogas-based micro cogeneration unit, lightweight glass-free photovoltaic modules, a passive variable geometry small wind turbine optimized for an urban environment and latent heat thermal storage based on phase change materials are some of the technologies developed within the Re-COGNITION project. The optimization problem is solved to contemporarily evaluate (a) the optimal design and (b) the optimal operations of the set of technologies considering both investment and operating costs, using mixed integer non-linear programming. The optimization is applied to the four pilots that are developed during the project, in various European cities (Turin (Italy), Corby (United Kingdom), Thessaloniki (Greece), Cluj-Napoca (Romania). Simulation results show that the development and optimal exploitation of new technologies through optimization strategies provide significant benefits in terms of cost (between 11% and 42%) and emissions (between 10% and 25%), managing building import/export energy and charge/discharge storage cycles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Thermal Energy Storage, District Heating and Optimization in a Multi Energy System Context)

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