Cold district heating

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2024-10-19 18:30:03

Cold district heating is a technical variant of a district heating network that operates at low transmission temperatures well below those of conventional district heating systems and can provide both space heating and cooling. Transmission temperatures in the range of approx. 10 to 25 °C are common, allowing different consumers to heat and cool simultaneously and independently of each other. Hot water is produced and the building heated by water heat pumps, which obtain their thermal energy from the heating network, while cooling can be provided either directly via the cold heat network or, if necessary, indirectly via chillers. Cold local heating is sometimes also referred to as an anergy network. The collective term for such systems in scientific terminology is 5th generation district heating and cooling. Due to the possibility of being operated entirely by renewable energies and at the same time contributing to balancing the fluctuating production of wind turbines and photovoltaic systems, cold local heating networks are considered a promising option for a sustainable, potentially greenhouse gas and emission-free heat supply.

As of 2019, the fifth generation heating networks described here have not yet been given a uniform name, and there are also various definitions for the general technical concept. In the English language technical literature the terms Low temperature District Heating and Cooling (LTDHC), Low temperature networks (LTN), Cold District Heating (CHD) and Anergy networks or Anergy grid are used. In addition, some publications have definitional conflicts in the delimitation to "warm" district heating networks, because certain authors consider Low temperature District Heating and Cooling as well as Ultra-low temperature District Heating as subforms of 4th generation district heating. In addition, the definition of so-called low-ex networks allows to classify them as both fourth and fifth generation.[ 1]