At EnergyVille, we are working on technologies that address the energy efficiency of district heating and cooling networks. We have developed a smart DHC controller based on self-learning algorithms, the STORM District Energy Controller, which enables maximising the use of residual heat and renewables in DHC networks. The controller optimises building and district consumption and network demand and makes best use of flexibility in the thermal network including the thermal mass of buildings, central and decentralised storage systems in the network and the network itself. The technology also controls the consumption side (demand side management) of district heating networks and the different components of the energy system (such as storage units, heat pumps, etc.) and indirectly the supply side. Different control objectives are demonstrated or under development: peak shaving of the heat demand, heat curve tuning or flatting, electricity market interaction with heat pumps and CHP, return temperature minimisation.
