WarmteStad optimises its multi-source heating network with Gradyent's Digital Twin
Groningen's public heating provider WarmteStad will use Gradyent’s Digital Twin to optimise its complex, multi-source heating network for over 6,000 customers. The solution will streamline operations, improve energy efficiency, and allow for future network expansion.
Challenge
WarmteStad operates a district heating network that serves over 6,000 customers. Heat is generated by a complex mix of three heat pumps of 1.7 MW each that use waste heat from nearby data centres, a 37 MW solar thermal field, a 1,000,000 m3 seasonal buffer, and three gas-fired CHPs of 0.9MWth and 0.73MWe.
WarmteStad has automated its daily operations using SCADA. However, the company's production setup is becoming increasingly complex, leaving untapped opportunities in the current method of controlling operations, especially considering the plan to double the size of its network over the next three years.
This is why WarmteStad decided to implement a Digital Twin to optimise both dispatch and forward temperatures in real-time.
Solution
Gradyent will create an end-to-end real-time Digital Twin of WarmteStad's increasingly complex system to assist the company in managing it. The Digital Twin Platform combines and integrates all available data sources, while real-time physics-based models interpret the data and calculate network hydraulics to determine the optimal heat supply.
Managing our diverse production assets amid volatile electricity markets is a constant challenge. Our system setup offers flexibility to capitalise on these opportunities, but it’s a complex task we initially had to simplify.
With Gradyent, we can now embrace this complexity, optimising our heating system to respond to market fluctuations and internal demands, including network hydraulics and user needs. We believe this system-level optimisation is a critical step toward future-proofing our operations and reducing CO2 emissions.”
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Results
Gradyent's Digital Twin will provide WarmteStad with a single source of truth, offering continuous updates and recalibrations to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the entire heating system.
With this technology, WarmteStad can futureproof its heat supply by minimising heat losses, improving the COP of the heat pumps, and optimising heat production in real-time based on electricity market dynamics, all while keeping costs as low as possible.
As WarmteStad's system grows, the Digital Twin is expected to play a crucial role in improving decision-making, especially when it comes to managing large and complex asset investments.