Investigating energy performance of large-scale seasonal storage in the district heating system of chifeng city: Measurements and model-based analysis of operation strategies

This paper presents a modeling and simulation method that supports energy performance assessment and operation strategy investigation of borehole thermal energy storage in the Chifeng district heating (DH) system. A living laboratory in Chifeng, China that integrates a 0.5 million m(3) borehole thermal energy storage system, an on-site solar thermal plant and excess heat from a copper plant is presented. The research adopts Modelica models from open source libraries to evaluate the system. The validity of the borehole thermal energy storage model is evaluated through an inter-model comparison study and an empirical validation test. We used the validated model to investigate three operation strategies. We conclude that the time-scheduled combined operation strategy is more beneficial for the studied system regarding CO2 emission reduction. (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

This paper presents a modeling and simulation method to support the energy performance assessment and operation strategy investigation of borehole thermal energy storage in the Chifeng district heating system. Through a living laboratory in Chifeng, China, with a integrated system, the research adopts Modelica models to evaluate the system and found that the time-scheduled combined operation strategy is more beneficial for reducing CO2 emissions.