Claus Meineche
Master Thesis – Energy Technology - 2017
Cooling plants produce about as much heating as cooling. This heat is only used to a limited extent. Modern supermarket refrigeration installations can supply local district heating systems in addition to heating their own retail areas. In addition, these refrigeration installations are often oversized, and hence, they can also be used as heat pumps provided that the district heating network demands the heat.
The study has shown that supermarkets cooling installations, on average, deliver 17% more heat than their own heating demand. The seasonal displacement between internal heat production and heat consumption implies that 22.2% of the heat demand is at times when there is not sufficient internal heat production.
The payback time for supermarket investment in utilisation of excess heat is between 4.9 and 7 years depending on the size of the supermarket.
Based on Bjerringbro District Heating, it is estimated that it is economically advantageous to use the full compressor capacity of refrigeration installations for co-production of heating and cooling. This allows local supermarkets to provide an economic gain for the district heating company of 5.3% and displace primary boiler heating by delivering 4.7% of the annual district heating demand. In this way, the supermarkets at national level will be able to cover the heat demand of 63,423 households.
The study showed that the district heating companies see 5 types of potential barriers against utilisation of excess heat from supermarkets in the district heating network: technology, economics, legislation, location and responsibilities.
Collaboration Partners
CLEAN
Energiplan Fyn
Relationships with ongoing projects
The study follows and is followed by the EUDP project: Super Supermarkets
Download Master Thesis (in Danish)