Design and development of a district heating system integrating renewable energy sources

Climate change stands as one of the most significant challenges that today's world must fight, in the most effective and prompt way possible. In this context, the optimization of consumption, including heating for residential spaces and domestic hot water supply, represents one of the crucial priorities. District heating involves the replacement of distributed boilers with a localized power plant, managed by the supplier, which is more efficient, safer and facilitates the integration of renewable sources. This study, carried out in collaboration between Politecnico di Torino and Edison Next S.p.A., examines the case study of Borgo San Dalmazzo, a small town in the province of Cuneo. Starting from the survey data, the energy needs of both private and public users have been calculated. These data allowed the sizing of pipelines, the calculation of the pressure losses within them, and the sizing of the production plant. The heat to be supplied to users will be generated through gas cogeneration and biomass-fired boilers. The presence of storage will assist in managing peak demands. Furthermore, the possible integration of solar thermal collectors has been analyzed, evaluating different technologies (flat plate and vacuum tube collectors). Starting from the site’s productivity assessment and considering the panels’ efficiency, the configuration providing the greatest contribution to generation has been determined. A technical-economic analysis has been performed to verify the feasibility of the project. The essay concludes with a focus on emissions and abatement systems present in the to-be-built power plant.