Jake Adamson MEng(Hons), MCIBSE
Graduate Engineer, FairHeat
Abstract
Energy centres with a combination of heat pumps and electric boilers are a standard approach to deliver all electric and low carbon heat to communal heating systems.
An assessment of operational data from four residential heat networks has been undertaken to determine the impact the thermal store size has on the required boiler capacity.
The findings show there is potential to reduce the boiler capacity by 15-30%, by increasing and optimising the thermal storage volume. The risk associated with reducing the boiler capacity can be mitigated by the implementing a control strategy to utilise the thermal store as buffer vessels.
Further assessments on a larger number of sites is recommended to increase the size of dataset and confidence in the findings of the analysis.
