Power-to-heat solutions like heat pumps and electric boilers are foreseen to be possible future tools to stabilise international power markets with high proportions of variable power supply. Temporary low cost electricity can be used for heat generation at times with high availability of wind and solar power through substitution of ordinary heat supply, hence contributing to increased energy system sustainability. Power-to-heat installations in district heating systems are competitive due to low specific investment and installation costs for large electric boilers, heat pumps, and heat storages. Several large-scale heat pumps were installed in Swedish district heating systems during the 1980s, since a national electricity surplus from new nuclear power existed for some years. The aim of this paper is to summarise the accumulated operation experiences from these large Swedish heat pumps to support and facilitate planning of future power-to-heat solutions with heat pumps in district heating systems. Gained experiences consider; installed capacities, capacity utilisation, heat sources used, refrigerant replacements, refrigerant leakages, and wear of mechanical components. The major conclusion is that many of the large thirty-year-old heat pumps are still in operation, but with reduced capacity utilisation due to internal competition from waste and biomass cogeneration plants in the district heating systems.

Lower future heat demands and lower availability of non-fossil high temperature heat supply are expected future market conditions that restrain the long-term viability of contemporary district heating systems. Hence, current district heating technology should be enhanced to increase system performance in new heat distribution areas. This paper aims to outline a proposal for technical improvements required to achieve lower annual average return temperatures in new residential buildings to improve viability in future market conditions. The proposed technical solution consists of three principle changes: three-pipe distribution networks, apartment substations, and longer thermal lengths for heat exchangers. The three technical modifications aims at addressing system embedded temperature errors. Furthermore, a simulation model was developed to assess the proposed technical solution concerning different energy performances of buildings and different thermal lengths in heat exchangers. The results show that implementation of the three technical modifications reaches time-weighted annual average return temperatures of 17–21 °C with supply temperatures of about 50 °C. The results also verify the increased necessity to separate the network return flows into delivery and recirculation flows in residential substations as energy performance in buildings increase.

This paper assesses pipe sizing aspects for previously proposed, novel, low heat distribution technology with three pipes. Assessment issues include heat loss, pressure loss, and pipe sizing for different typical pipe configurations. This assessment has been provided by the analysis of a case area with single-family houses. Concerning heat loss, the proposed three-pipe solutions have the same magnitude of heat loss as conventional twin pipes, since lower return temperatures compensate for the larger heat loss area from the third pipe. Regarding pressure loss, the main restriction on the size of the third pipe is limited to the pressure loss in the third pipe. Thermostatic valves to manage the flow rate of the third pipe are advocated, since alternative small pumps have not been found to be commercially available. The pipe sizing recommendation is that the third pipe for recirculation purposes can be two to three standard pipe sizes smaller than the corresponding supply and return pipe, if no prosumer is connected in the heat distribution network.

The main impetus for lower distribution temperatures in district heating systems is the lower heat supply costs obtained by these lower temperatures. In this paper, the differences in heat supply costs for two different temperature levels have been estimated for various future heat supply options. The estimations were obtained by modelling a district heating system characterised by typical climate conditions for Central Europe. High sensitivity to lower supply costs from lower temperatures was found for geothermal heat, industrial excess heat, and heat pumps, whereas low cost sensitivity was estimated for combined heat and power plants using waste or biomass. Lower heat distribution loss constitutes a minor component of the total cost reductions. The current use of high heat distribution temperatures was identified as an important barrier for the transition to renewable and recycled heat supply in district heating systems. Hence, lower distribution temperatures would facilitate this required transition because lower distribution temperatures provide higher profitability for these renewable and recycled heat sources. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.