Periodic Reporting for period 3 - THERMOSS (Building and district thermal retrofit and management solutions)
Reporting period: 2019-09-01 to 2020-02-29
The main objective of THERMOSS is to produce an outstanding contribution to the wider deployment of advanced building heating and cooling technologies in the EU, with a view to significantly enhance energy efficiency of residential buildings and to facilitate their connection to District and Cooling networks (DHC) networks. To this aim, THERMOSS Project is developing, testing and deploying packages that optimize the use of fossil fuel and studying the application of a two-way-heat exchanger for thermal energy which will favour decentralized production and storage in district heating connected buildings, while allowing standalone buildings (i.e. the ones non-connected to district heating networks) to become District Heating ready.
Other Project objectives are:
• Ensure an efficient match between supply and demand of energy
• Increase the efficiency of residential building thermal retrofitting
• Sharpen the awareness to provide access to heating/cooling technology database to promote the deployment of the most effective technologies, among which THERMOSS optimized technology packages.
(Figure 1)
THERMOSS Project target residential buildings, of different type and climatic location (for a total of 6 demo sites in 5 countries). Residential buildings have typically high energy consumption, a high share of natural gas and low to medium penetration of renewable energies and district heating systems, proposing efficient solutions for gas using systems and district heating. These consist of 4 main heating technologies and 2 heating equipment, namely: micro CHP, Gas Absorption heat pump, hybrid heat pump, electrical heat pump, one way and two way heat interface units.
The retrofitting strategy will be simulated through the simulation tool at building and district heating (DIMOSIM). A retrofitting toolbox for automated technological assessment and evaluation (WARME) and a smart district heating management will be also provided.
Other Project objectives are:
• Ensure an efficient match between supply and demand of energy
• Increase the efficiency of residential building thermal retrofitting
• Sharpen the awareness to provide access to heating/cooling technology database to promote the deployment of the most effective technologies, among which THERMOSS optimized technology packages.
(Figure 1)
THERMOSS Project target residential buildings, of different type and climatic location (for a total of 6 demo sites in 5 countries). Residential buildings have typically high energy consumption, a high share of natural gas and low to medium penetration of renewable energies and district heating systems, proposing efficient solutions for gas using systems and district heating. These consist of 4 main heating technologies and 2 heating equipment, namely: micro CHP, Gas Absorption heat pump, hybrid heat pump, electrical heat pump, one way and two way heat interface units.
The retrofitting strategy will be simulated through the simulation tool at building and district heating (DIMOSIM). A retrofitting toolbox for automated technological assessment and evaluation (WARME) and a smart district heating management will be also provided.
• The first activities in M1 of the Project dealt with the setting up of the fundamental requirements and the preliminary analysis of the Thermoss project demo sites.
• A dedicated check-list of the already installed equipment for HVAC, including sensors, actuators and BMS as well as a technical description of the building has been completed.
• The extra sensors needed have been defined. For these sensors, a detailed deployment plan has been defined to coordinate the installation work performed by the local installers.
(Figure 2)
• The requirements for data protection considering potential sensitive data of the involved households have been defined.
• In the second part of the first year, a library of state-of-art technologies for heating and cooling has been prepared that best suit for different geo-clustered building typologies.
• The preparation of the building and district-level modelling and simulation environment started in M6. The existing simulation environment DIMOSIM was adapted to the solutions deployed in the THERMOSS project. The DIMOSIM simulation tool allows the transient calculation of energy flows in a district with local or centralised (e.g. district heating) energy solutions, including waste heat.
• A sizing toolbox to determine the retrofitting package parameters and solutions has been developed. The toolbox considers the building typology as well as the climate, the building thermal needs and the type of technological package chosen.
• A preliminary assessment of primary energy savings for the 6 demo sites has been estimated from 14% to 72%, with non-renovated envelope of the buildings. The expected average of the energy savings is 27% which show that the THERMOSS objective of 20-30% energy savings may be reached in most demo sites provided the hardware heating system is complemented with suitable envelope renovation and on-demand heating control.
• The preparation, delivery and installation work for prototypes testing at CEA INES have been completed by Bosch and CEA. The Solar and Air source Heat Pump (SHP) and Heat Interface Unit (HIU) tests are completed.
(Figure 3)
• Specifications of 2-way-substations systems have been defined, with the selection of 3 possible architectures. One architecture has been chosen for further model and design tasks. The 2-way-substation progress may lead to the development and industrial manufacturing of one prototype.
• During the last 18 months the involved partners of WP4 have focused on the organisation of the open and multiscale platform for data collection, monitoring and management, through the development and the integration of optimization algorithms.
• In cooperation with WP5, data from the installed sensors are being collected in the database in real time. Data transmission through VPN connection is set for UK and Spanish demosites. Dedicated access using username and password has been granted to the involved THERMOSS Partners. Moreover, historical data from existing databases are being integrated in the database.
• Demosites in UK, Spain and Riga are now preparing the upgrade phase in all details (technical, financial, legal, etc.).
(Figure 4)
• A dedicated check-list of the already installed equipment for HVAC, including sensors, actuators and BMS as well as a technical description of the building has been completed.
• The extra sensors needed have been defined. For these sensors, a detailed deployment plan has been defined to coordinate the installation work performed by the local installers.
(Figure 2)
• The requirements for data protection considering potential sensitive data of the involved households have been defined.
• In the second part of the first year, a library of state-of-art technologies for heating and cooling has been prepared that best suit for different geo-clustered building typologies.
• The preparation of the building and district-level modelling and simulation environment started in M6. The existing simulation environment DIMOSIM was adapted to the solutions deployed in the THERMOSS project. The DIMOSIM simulation tool allows the transient calculation of energy flows in a district with local or centralised (e.g. district heating) energy solutions, including waste heat.
• A sizing toolbox to determine the retrofitting package parameters and solutions has been developed. The toolbox considers the building typology as well as the climate, the building thermal needs and the type of technological package chosen.
• A preliminary assessment of primary energy savings for the 6 demo sites has been estimated from 14% to 72%, with non-renovated envelope of the buildings. The expected average of the energy savings is 27% which show that the THERMOSS objective of 20-30% energy savings may be reached in most demo sites provided the hardware heating system is complemented with suitable envelope renovation and on-demand heating control.
• The preparation, delivery and installation work for prototypes testing at CEA INES have been completed by Bosch and CEA. The Solar and Air source Heat Pump (SHP) and Heat Interface Unit (HIU) tests are completed.
(Figure 3)
• Specifications of 2-way-substations systems have been defined, with the selection of 3 possible architectures. One architecture has been chosen for further model and design tasks. The 2-way-substation progress may lead to the development and industrial manufacturing of one prototype.
• During the last 18 months the involved partners of WP4 have focused on the organisation of the open and multiscale platform for data collection, monitoring and management, through the development and the integration of optimization algorithms.
• In cooperation with WP5, data from the installed sensors are being collected in the database in real time. Data transmission through VPN connection is set for UK and Spanish demosites. Dedicated access using username and password has been granted to the involved THERMOSS Partners. Moreover, historical data from existing databases are being integrated in the database.
• Demosites in UK, Spain and Riga are now preparing the upgrade phase in all details (technical, financial, legal, etc.).
(Figure 4)
The THERMOSS impacts are greatly focused on the technological developments and marketability of the 6 technology packages (TPs) and the systems optimizing its performance at stand alone and district components.
The evaluation of the energy performance, as well as economic, social and environmental aspects, at testing and demo site facilities, are key for the successful exploitation and market deployment of the THERMOSS Technology packages and systems. During the first 18 months of the Project, some promising results have already been produced. In fact, the tests of Solar Heat Pump at CEA INES showed 20-36% energy savings.
The main expected impacts from the THERMOSS Technologies and systems rely on promoting a large-scale market deployment of cost-effective and energy-efficient heating solutions before 2025 (payback time below 10 years), the reduction of energy consumption (in the range of 20-30%), and ease of deployment and integration, with a limited workforce.
In the first 18 months of the project, 6 systems/technological results that go beyond the state of the art have been identified within THERMOSS project:
• Bi-directional thermal substation: to deliver extra heat to the district network thus reducing gas consumption at district heat plant
• M2M Gateway: Connectivity Gateway, which allows for data collection without using the customers router, but by direct communication.
• Heating System Connectivity
• District simulation platform (DIMOSIM)
• Sizing Toolbox (WARME)
• Geo-clustered technology catalogue describing the state of the art solutions for building and district HVAC
As part of the exploitation strategy, five technological exploitable results have been identified as listed in the Table attached.
(Figure 5)
The evaluation of the energy performance, as well as economic, social and environmental aspects, at testing and demo site facilities, are key for the successful exploitation and market deployment of the THERMOSS Technology packages and systems. During the first 18 months of the Project, some promising results have already been produced. In fact, the tests of Solar Heat Pump at CEA INES showed 20-36% energy savings.
The main expected impacts from the THERMOSS Technologies and systems rely on promoting a large-scale market deployment of cost-effective and energy-efficient heating solutions before 2025 (payback time below 10 years), the reduction of energy consumption (in the range of 20-30%), and ease of deployment and integration, with a limited workforce.
In the first 18 months of the project, 6 systems/technological results that go beyond the state of the art have been identified within THERMOSS project:
• Bi-directional thermal substation: to deliver extra heat to the district network thus reducing gas consumption at district heat plant
• M2M Gateway: Connectivity Gateway, which allows for data collection without using the customers router, but by direct communication.
• Heating System Connectivity
• District simulation platform (DIMOSIM)
• Sizing Toolbox (WARME)
• Geo-clustered technology catalogue describing the state of the art solutions for building and district HVAC
As part of the exploitation strategy, five technological exploitable results have been identified as listed in the Table attached.
(Figure 5)