CLOSING WEBINAR APRIL 24, 2025:
As buildings become smarter with connected devices and sensors, they offer new opportunities for intelligent interaction with connected energy systems and may thus offer flexibility potential as well as new business opportunities for tenants and energy suppliers. District heating and cooling (DHC) systems are among the most sustainable solutions for meeting heating and cooling needs in densely populated areas. Buildings connected to these networks can act as decentralized thermal energy storage (TES) units and thus flexibility providers. Hereby, operational challenges on DHC level arriving from integration of intermittent energy sources and heat electrification may be solved and overall efficiency and sustainability increased. Despite extensive research on energy-flexible buildings and demand response (DR), large-scale adoption in DHC systems remains limited due to challenges in integration, economic feasibility, and regulatory compliance. Over the past four years, IEA EBC Annex 84 has explored these challenges looking into the new potential arriving from digitalization of the demand side and the knowledge captured in the case studies.
This closing webinar aimed to present key findings from Annex 84 and foster discussions on the remaining barriers to effective interoperability between buildings and DHC networks.
- Videos from the closing webinar:
Annex presentation
Subtask A - Collaboration models
Subtask B - Technology at the building level (Hardware)
Subtask C - Methods and tools (Software)
Subtask D - Case studies
Q&A session
- Material from the closing webinar (presentations):
Presentations
- Deliverables:
Project Summary Report
Collaboration models – overview of involved actors, existing practices, potential barriers and limitations, recommendations (Annex 84, Subtask A)
Evaluation and Summary (Annex 84, Subtask B)
Tools and methods to leverage the thermal demand response potential in buildings connected to thermal networks (Annex 84, Subtask C)
Description and Comparative Analysis of Case studies (Annex 84, Subtask D)
GENERAL:
In a significant share of households the heating and/or cooling demands are satisfied by district heating/cooling (DHC) networks (e.g. in Iceland, Denmark, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Finland and Northern China around 50% of building stock is connected to DHC networks). Although increased evidence from monitoring data shows that 50-60% of all building heating/cooling systems have faulty operation leading to higher volume flows and return temperatures and in consequence to un-necessary heating/cooling use and in-efficient operation of DHC systems, today optimization of DHC focuses on the system side and does not integrate building systems. Solving the challenge of demand side management is decidedly technological, yet the success of new initiatives/ solutions is increasingly hinged on resident/user engagement as shifts in expectations as well as in roles and responsibilities needs attention.
The overarching Annex aim is to provide a comprehensive knowledge and tools for successful activation of the demand management of buildings in DHC networks. The work of the Annex will investigate both the social and technical challenges and how these can be overcome for various building typologies, climate zones and local conditions as well as how digitalisation of heating/cooling demand facilitates the demand response activation.