Enercity is leveraging artificial intelligence

A pilot project by the Hanover-based energy service provider Enercity in collaboration with the Ostland housing cooperative demonstrates how district heating customers can significantly reduce their CO2 emissions with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). In total, around 2,000 people in approximately 900 apartments are now benefiting from the new technology—and so is the housing industry itself. Further projects are planned, as the company announced on September 22, 2020.

Real-time Internet-based measurement and control

The AI-based software integrates buildings into the district heating system’s optimization process and, based on continuous real-time measurements, dynamically adjusts the heating controls in the buildings to actual demand. Thanks to self-learning control software, everyone benefits: tenants enjoy savings on energy costs, the housing cooperative benefits from improved analysis and communication capabilities, and Enercity gains greater flexibility as well as lower temperatures in the district heating network. This is because the return flow temperature, in particular, has a decisive influence on the efficiency of a heating system: if it is lowered from 60 to 40 degrees Celsius, the heating output can be increased by up to 70 percent. The lower the temperature level of the heating network, the higher the proportion of heat from renewable sources can be.

Smart software reduces CO2 emissions

The use of AI makes district heating “smart city”-ready, because in most heating networks, the customer side—that is, the world beyond the transfer station—has not yet been actively integrated into network operations. “After one year, the pilot project yielded energy savings of around nine percent and reduced network return temperatures by up to ten degrees Kelvin. CO2 emissions were also reduced," says enercity CEO Dr. Susanna Zapreva. Digitalization also allows the district heating network to be optimized from production all the way to the customer.

Another 100 apartment buildings will be equipped with smart control systems

Based on the positive results of the pilot project with the self-learning, cloud-based software, enercity retrofitted an additional 100 connected apartment buildings in the second phase. Since then, approximately 2,000 residents across 900 apartments have benefited from the AI-based control system. Customer satisfaction has noticeably increased. "Thanks to the control system, our tenants enjoy pleasant and comfortable warmth that saves energy and protects the climate. Communication with enercity’s service technicians is also simpler. When complaints arise, they can access real-time data from our properties and offer faster, more targeted solutions," says Ostland board member Andreas Wahl, outlining the benefits. The housing cooperative manages approximately 2,000 apartments across 254 properties in the Region Hannover.

Load management increases grid flexibility and makes efficient use of district heating capacity

The second phase of the project focuses more heavily on peak load optimization. The AI-driven program mitigates peak loads by predicting them and intelligently controlling space heating, shifting heating times without compromising indoor comfort. In doing so, the software uses the buildings themselves as distributed heat storage units. Shifting demand and thus heat consumption effectively reduces peak loads, thereby lowering costs for customers. Enercity requires less generation capacity to meet demand. This makes district heating an even more sustainable heat source for the future. A modern district heating infrastructure makes a major contribution to cities’ efforts to mitigate climate change. As Enercity’s pilot project has shown, the key lies in digitalization.

"The use of smart controls in the project resulted not only in energy savings but also in a reduction in peak load of about 20 percent. Such a reduction in peak load across the entire network would allow enercity to connect 25 percent more customers to the district heating network without having to expand existing production capacity," said enercity CEO Zapreva. In the long term, using buildings as heat storage can significantly reduce the need for peak-load boilers, which are used to meet increased demand. The cost of district heating production in combined heat and power plants would decrease further—and with it, CO2 emissions.

(Published on September 22, 2020)