Utilizing thermal building mass for storage in district heating systems: Combined building level simulations and system level optimization

Higher shares of intermittent renewable energy in energy systems have raised the issue of the need for different energy storage solutions. The utilization of existing thermal building mass for storage is a cost-efficient solution. In order to investigate its potential, a detailed building simulation model was coupled with a linear optimization model of the energy system.

Different building archetypes were modelled in detail, and their potential preheating and subsequent heat supply cut-off periods were assessed. Energy system optimization focused on the impact of thermal mass for storage on the energy supply of district heating. Results showed that longer preheating time increased the possible duration of cut-off events.

System optimization showed that the thermal mass for storage was used as intra-day storage. Flexible load accounted for 5.5%–7.7% of the total district heating demand. Furthermore, thermal mass for storage enabled more solar thermal heating energy to be effectively utilized in the system. One of the sensitivity analyses showed that the large-scale pit thermal energy storage and thermal mass for storage are complimentary.

The cut-off duration potential, which did not compromise thermal comfort, was longer in the newer, better insulated buildings, reaching 6 h among different building archetypes.