Real operation data analysis on district heating load patterns

District heating networks play an important role in the heating and cooling sector, serving up to 60% of the citizens in some countries. The availability of a thermal network supplying multiple users allows producing heat from different sources and multiple technologies. The possibility of relying on different solutions allows the system manager to optimize the heat generation by choosing the best unit for each operation condition. This choice is based on a deep knowledge of heat load profiles, that are related to users' behavior, network performances and control logics. This paper provides an analysis of a DH system operation over ten heating seasons, with the aim of highlighting the main characteristics of the heat load variations and finding the fundamental drivers for heat load prediction. Although the system has seen a significant development throughout the years, the specific energy consumption has been found to be comparable on the whole duration of the analysis. Two main patterns are highlighted, based on the different operation settings along the hours of the day and the outdoor temperature as the main weather driver for building's heat demand. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.