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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ReUseHeat (Recovery of Urban Excess Heat)

Teaser

Approximately 50% of the energy consumption in the EU is used for heating and cooling purposes makes district heating and cooling solutions relevant to support Europe in the transition from fossil fuels to fossil free energy consumption. In district heating systems heat that...

Summary

Approximately 50% of the energy consumption in the EU is used for heating and cooling purposes makes district heating and cooling solutions relevant to support Europe in the transition from fossil fuels to fossil free energy consumption. In district heating systems heat that is otherwise waste can be recovered and reused. The district heating systems are operating at such temperatures today that the waste heat needs to have elevated temperatures to be efficiently integrated into the distribution networks. As a result, waste heat recovery from industries is common. Development of new, energy efficient buildings reduces the heating demand of the building stock. In combination with more efficient heat pumps it is increasingly interesting to recover other waste heat than that generated by industries. In cities, as a result of people working and living in them, heat is generated continuously. Recovering urban waste heat is increasingly interesting since urban areas are growing, Recovered urban waste heat can reduce the usage of the conventional fossil fuels making it a possible resource.

In Reuseheat, the main objective is to demonstrate first of their kind advanced, modular and replicable solutions enabling the recovery and reuse of waste heat available at the urban level from different sectors. The solutions promote a cost-effective and technically viable decarbonization of the current heating and cooling systems and unlock investments for the deployment of urban waste heat recovery across the EU. In the project, heat is recovered in four demosites. In two sites, heat is recovered from cooling processes (from a computer center and from a hospital). The waste heat recovered from a datacenter will provide approximately 400 new built, energy efficient houses with heat. The waste heat recovered from a cooling production process of a hospital will replace the current, fossil fueled boiler. One of the demosites addresses waste heat recovery from sewage water, in this demosite an effort is made to create awareness of the inhabitants/ users of a building about the amounts of waste heat used from sewage water to meet the demand of the building. In the fourth demosites, heat is recovered from a metrosystem.

Reuseheat also includes information on the urban waste heat potential in EU 28. Analyses are made of how increased usage of the heat sources in both national and urban energy systems would impact the systems. The heat potential and the technical solutions need to be combined to generate efficient business cases. In Reuseheat, the work of previous EU projects such as CELSIUS is continued. Analyses are made on the stakeholders perspectives, bankability, risk, contracts, business models and scalability, replicability and modularity of urban waste heat investments. Furthermore, to increase the implementation of urban waste heat recovery implementations in the EU a handbook on how to undertake low temperature district heating investments is one of the main deliverables of the project. At the end of the project, the newly generated knowledge will be disseminated and actively supported by training sessions to increase the capacity of professionals in the heating sector to implement urban waste heat recovery.

Work performed

WORK PERFORMED M1-M18:
The project has allocated efforts to understand the urban waste heat potential for EU 28. Analyses have been made at the national level of the demonstrator countries, to understand how the enery system will be impacted when replacing other heat sources with urban waste heat. Analyses have also been made to understand how the energy system at the city level, of the cities of the demonstrators, will be impacted with an increase of urban waste heat sources in the heating mix. The first milestone of the project was the quantification of the EU-28 urban waste heat potential, this milestone was met in November 2018 (M14). Preparatory work has begun for the demosites. In addition to technical preparations information has also been collected on stakeholder perspectives of urban waste heat recovery. An understanding of the risk of urban waste heat recovery investment has been established and work has been initiated on bankability, contracts and business modelling for urban waste heat recovery investments.

MAIN RESULTS ACHIEVED M1-M18:
-The first milestone of the project (quantification of the EU urban waste heat potential) was attained in M14
-Deliverables according to plan
-Stakeholder group built and stakedholder group webinars held
-Advisory board built and advisory board participation to project meetings
-Webpage, social media channel, newsletter: established
-Dissemination activities (conferences and other events)
-Exploitation activities

Final results

PROGRESS BEYOND THE STATE OF THE ART:
Reuseheat is a forerunner in regards to urban waste heat recovery. There is limited empirical knowledge on how to recover low temperature heat into existing district heating networks and the four demosites of Reuseheat will provide important empirical information to progress in the field. In earlier EU projects on district heating little attention has been given to the business modelling, contracts and bankability of investments. In Reuseheat, the work made in EU project Celsius is continued and extended addressing the risk of urban waste heat recovery, contracts and business modelling. Bankablility analyses and stakeholder analyses addressing the urban waste heat recovery context are also performed that add knowledge beyond the state of the art. Reuseheat will summarize the new information, the state of the art generated in the project in one main deliverable: a handbook on urban waste heat recovery investments. The handbook will allow for trainings that increase the skills and qualifications of professionals in the heating sector.

EXPECTED RESULTS UNTIL THE END OF THE PROJECT:
The main objective is to demonstrate at first of their kind advanced, modular and replicable solutions enabling the recovery and reuse of waste heat available at the urban level from different sectors. Apart from the main objective, the project has a number of scientifc and technical objectives. These objectives are linked to the technical and non-technical progression beyond state of the art (outlined in the section above). It is expected that the technical and non technical progression in Reuseheat will increase the overall urban waste heat awareness, skilld and capabilities of district heating practitioners, owners of urban waste heat, customers, policy makers and investors in the field of green energy.

POTENTIAL IMPACTS:
Reuseheat aims at the demonstration of waste heat recovery in urban areas, resulting in improved solutions compared to the best available solutions existing today. The project impacts are classified in several categories. These are (i) to increase the share of waste heat captured and utilized in urban areas, (ii) primary energy savings and (iii) GHG emission savings. At the end of the project, it is assumed that 6470 MWh/yr of urban waste heat will be recovered, 5519 MWh/yr of primary energy savings will be realized and that 1135 tonnes of CO2/yr will be saved.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.reuseheat.eu.