Can LT heat grids green Antwerp's heat demand?

Over time, the importance of low-temperature heat networks can be expected to increase. High-temperature waste heat will be less available for space heating and domestic hot water production as industry increasingly switches to renewable energy sources and recovers more and more heat itself.

Renewable heat sources such as ground heat, solar heat and sewage heat often provide lower temperatures than have been common within heat networks to date. Low-temperature heat networks can also be chosen from an energy efficiency standpoint, given the lower heat losses of a low-temperature distribution system.

The city's vision is to eventually extend the already planned heat networks to existing buildings in the area. However, the application of low temperature networks to existing buildings poses a specific challenge. Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, additional measures will have to be taken at the building level to maintain at least an equivalent level of comfort compared to the current situation.

In the study carried out, Ingenium and Bureau Bouwtechniek investigated technically and financially what modifications were needed to the existing buildings to connect to a low temperature heat network. For this purpose, all possible constructional and installation-technical adaptation measures were inventoried.

These adaptation measures constitute the building blocks that enable the connection of a building to a low temperature heat grid. These building blocks were then used to arrive at a number of connection scenarios for seven real urban type buildings with various functions (collective residential, office and school) for two possible heat network temperature levels (40 °C and 60/65 °C).

The results of the study will be used as a resource for feasibility studies on extending low-temperature heat networks to existing buildings.

Contact our energy & sustainability expert Joris Dedecker at joris.dedecker@ingenium.be for more info.