Increased industrial district heating use in a CHP system : economic consequences and impact on global CO2 emissions

• The use of district heating (DH) in industrial processes is relatively limited compared to other fuels and electricity. Hence, the industrial sector has great potential to convert from electricity and fossil fuels to DH. In addition, DH is mainly used for space heating and hot tap water, which makes the DH demand strongly seasonally dependent. By converting industrial processes like cooling, drying and industrial heating to DH, the heat load curve will be more evenly distributed throughout the year, thus utilizing the DH production resources better. This paper analyses how conversions from electricity or other fuels to district heating (DH) in industrial processes will affect an energy system. The effect of a more evenly distributed heat load profile is analysed with different policy instruments, fuel prices and electricity prices. In this study, three CHP plants acting as base load plants, which utilize different fuels (biofuel, waste and natural gas), are analysed. The result shows that when the use of district heating in industrial processes is increased it will lead to reduced system cost in both the biofueled and waste-incinerated combined heat and power system. Furthermore, when considering European electricity production in coal condensing and natural gas power plants, conversion to DH will also lead to possible reduced global CO2 emissions.

Nyckelord

Combined heat and power

district heating

industrial heat load

heat load duration

energy efficiency audits

TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

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