Robust Production Planning for District Heating Networks

Abstract: Efficient use of energy becomes increasingly important in the modern society, with climate change as a driving factor. Short term production planning for district heating networks is motivated by a customer demand that varies according to a daily cycle, but which is directly dependent on changes in temperature and customer behaviour. The planning involves challenges in modeling of production unit startups and shutdowns, as well as modeling of heat storage. This thesis suggests the use of model predictive control, with a two stage stochastic programming problem solved at each iteration. Tests are performed for systems with and without accumulation. For both cases, the results indicate that the method has potential to generate savings.