Basic principles of the management of district heating networks

Source

L1, L2 and L3 have been created within the giCASES project http://www.gicases.eu.

E1 and E2 have been created within the giCASES project http://www.gicases.eu.

L4 has been created within the GeoSmartCity project http://www.geosmartcity.eu

Ownership
Authors:

L1, L2, L3: Anders Östman, Novogit AB

E1 and E2: Marija Östman, Novogit AB

L4: Iren Acqua Gas S.p.a,, Genova Municipality.

All material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
Abstract

The management of utility networks includes among other things the daily operations, the maintenance and investments for improving the network. A successful management of utility networks requires detailed information about the physical structure and location of network components and their conditions.

Each type of utility network has their own characteristics, for instance the components of the network, maintenance models, investment modules, quality assurance of delivery, regulations on pricing and environmental concerns etc. This submodule is mainly dealing with district heating networks and the planning of maintenance operations.

The submodule describes the basic components of district heating systems, such as power plants, heat distribution networks and heat exchangers at the consumer side. Important physical properties of district heating pipes, such as dimension, material and type of insulation are also discussed. For maintenance planning, an exercise on inspection planning is included. In this exercise, the students are asked to evaluate a given network with respect to probability of failure and impact of failures. No-dig technologies for renewing pipes are also discussed.

District heating networks also plays an important role in national energy policies and the ambitions to increase the usage of renewable energy resources and to reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions. Relationships with national energy policies are described as well.

The module is a self-learning module, but it may also be provided as a tutor-led or blended learning module.

Structure

This module is composed of the following learning units:

  1. L1: Introduction to the module (lecture)
  2. L2: Principles of District Heating (lecture)
  3. L3: Python programming in QGIS (lecture)
  4. E1: Introduction to management of Utility Assets (exercise)
  5. L4: No-dig techniques and technologies (lecture)
  6. E2: Additional assignments
Learning outcomes

At the end of this module, a successful learner should be able to:

  • describe relationships between legislations, economic performance and IT systems
  • create simple scripts in Python language
  • create and execute Python scripts in QGIS environment
  • describe the main components of a district heating network
  • describe important characteristics when maintaining district heating networks
  • describe some basic data models for district heating
  • describe rehabilitation methodologies related to underground asset maintenance

Intended Audience

Students in geospatial information technologies (or similar);Professionals working in the utility network sector.
Pre-requisites

Basic programming skills in anya structured programming language. Basic GIS skills. Good knowledge about GIS data, data modelling and topology.

Language
English
Format

PPT presentation with text. Programming exercise on utility network maintenance. Assignment on writing essays.

Expected workload

Lectures: 4 hours

Exercises: 56 hours