District Energy - 2009 2nd Quarter

Technology
Showcase

Real-Time Thermal

Energy Modeling

and Simulation:

Information helps make

decisions, cut costs

Thomas S. Lund-Hansen, Vice President-U.S. and Canada, 7-Technologies

Times are changing for most district energy utilities. The majority are managing and operating expanding and increasingly complex systems of different ages with a static level of resources and, at the same time, meeting increasing demands for safety, sustainability, reliability and efficiency. Working harder does not necessarily do the job; working smarter is more likely to bring success.

This is where information technology, and in particular, real-time thermal energy modeling and simulation (RTTMS) can make a difference – putting accurate, real-time ‘decision-ready’ information into the hands of district energy system staff, enabling them to execute sustainable, cost-efficient decisions at the management, tactical and operational levels. Whereas in the past, utility operators have often made decisions based largely on their experience (“because we know it works”), they now have the opportunity to use experience in combination with information for the best possible result.

Information from RTTMS programs can help utilities, consultants and other vendors reduce overhead and lower the capital and operations and maintenance cost base. Currently approximately 600

utilities around the world are using RTTMS to manage their steam, hot water and chilled-water systems – including the University of New Mexico and Copenhagen Energy, Denmark, both of which rely on the RTTMS software technology and methodology to optimize their district energy systems and cut costs.

RTTMS: The Concept

Accurate and timely information is essential for making good decisions. If you cannot measure – or model – the information, you cannot manage it. In a perfect world, real-time instrumentation would be spread out covering the complete thermal distribution network as well as the plants and customer buildings. This is far from feasible with today’s technology. RTTMS software, however, enables district energy utilities to model

Accurate and timely information
is essential for making good
decisions. If you cannot measure
– or model – the information,
you cannot manage it.

and simulate all operational scenarios using highly sophisticated and complex dynamic thermal mathematical equations.

RTTMS systems provide a variety of savings and benefits for the full life cycle of a district energy system, including in the following areas:

Master planning – RTTMS can be used to prepare a reference or baseline feasibility study of the current district energy system’s capacity, including identification of system bottlenecks. For existing, new or completely retrofitted district energy systems, it can cut down on instrumentation, possibly achieving upfront cost savings from $100,000 to $3,000,000 and even more in a system’s operational phase, depending on system size and complexity. RTTMS also allows systems to defer capital investments by using the existing capacity in a more optimized operation or just implement minor system changes or overhauls.

Asset evaluation – Information from RTTMS can be used for due diligence for potential acquisition deals, book-keeping/annual reporting and funding purposes.