Exergy performance analysis of the conceptual district energy network system with heat pump

Abstract

To increase the efficiency of a district heating system, we propose a district energy network concept which combines several heating resources with additional electric heat pump and thermal energy storage. With help of thermal energy storage, a heat pump can be operated at maximum efficiency at all the time. Electricity generated with less CO2 emission makes the proposed system much more environmentally friendly. Even though the proposed concept can be applied to any given situation, a specific target area was chosen to show the effectiveness of the newly proposed energy network concept more clearly. Several constraints were applied for the selection process and a simplified model used for quantitative comparison between the existing and the developed concept. Exergy analysis showed the increased performance of proposed energy network system. The result showed that the newly proposed concept generates less CO2 emission by 46% at maximum compared to the existing system. By using additional renewable energy sources, we can reduce CO2 emission even further.