1. Unleashing the potential of existing biomass systems through District Heating and Thermal Storage
Andrew Lyden
University of Strathclyde
I am Andrew Lyden, a PhD student at the University of Strathclyde. I am going to take you through a selection process we have developed for choosing tools when modelling community energy systems, with a focus on the storage element.

2. District heating

3. Design problems in Scotland
Limited uptake of district heating
Thermal storage not properly used
Mismatch between best and current design practice
Insufficient support for industry standards

4. Outline Scottish context Design methods Two case studies
Scotland design trends
Heat pump + thermal storage design tool

8. Scotland and District Heating
Policy:
SEEP, RHI, District Heat Loan Fund, CARES, etc.
Uptake
Homes connected to district heating: 10,000 out of 2.4 million
Standards:
CIBSE Heat Networks code of practice – design methods?

9. Design methods Demand assessment Heat network design
Supply and thermal storage sizing
Control strategies
Energy system integration
District heating design methods

10. Supply and thermal store sizing - EnergyPRO
Brief introduction to the two as these are the main tools used for the results for the case studies presented here
Finally - Do we have all the methods necessary to ensure best practice? Lets see two real case studies and how they were designed

11. Supply and thermal store sizing - Biomass sizing tool

12. Findhorn ecovillage
750kW Wind Turbines 25kW PV farm Electric cars Energy efficient homes
ASHP + Solar thermal
2x Biomass DH schemes

13. 199kW Biomass district heating scheme: 12 community buildings

14. No thermal storage and extend district heating
Currently 10 community buildings and no thermal storage
Boiler can meet 90% of the needs of the entire village (circa 100 buildings) with a 2,400L thermal store
Need build thermal store and to extend district heating network

15. West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative

16. Current system Peak demand 1.2MW 720kW Biomass Boiler
50,000L thermal store
3x 1.3MW Gas boilers = 4MW = (extend DH?)
Biomass currently meets around 77% of demand, this should be closer to 95%

17. Control problems

18. Design trends in Scotland
Surveyed 20 community biomass schemes
Used biomass sizing tool to approximate design boiler and thermal store sizing
Found oversized boilers, and undersized thermal stores

19. Design problems in Scotland
Limited uptake of district heating
Thermal storage not properly used
Unleash potential of existing biomass systems

20. New tool to support heat pumps
Biomass is not the only solution for heating
Heat pumps + thermal stores with surplus wind
Planning/concept level tool to increase awareness at feasibility stage
Advanced controls required

21. Conclusion
Design methods exist which need to be used to support industry standards
Two case studies and design trends survey show design problems in Scotland
New tool can help support use of heat pumps and thermal storage to utilise surplus wind in communities

22. THANKS! Andrew Lyden University of Strathclyde, ESRU