Simulation of decarbonization objectives for the district heating system in the Helsinki metropolitan area

Abstract: District heating (DH) is of great significance for the Nordic countries due to the high heat demand especially in the winter. In Finland, 40% of heat was generated by fossil fuels in DH system, and DH sector emits 10% of the total emissions. The Finnish government aims to achieve carbon neutrality as the national goal by 2035. This study aims to evaluate the decarbonization objectives of each city (i.e. Helsinki capital city, Espoo and Vantaa) in the Helsinki metropolitan area and their influences on DH oper-ation from 2010 to 2030 by energyPRO. A model of a joint DH system with the interconnec-tions between Helsinki-Espoo and Helsinki-Vantaa is developed, in order to describe the whole Helsinki metropolitan area DH under the decarbonization objectives. The study pro-vides a least-cost DH operation solution while matching the supply and demand conditions. The optimum performance of the DH is simulated considering different operation strategies (technical aspect), operation expenditures (economic aspect), CO2 emission (environmental aspect). The results are presented from 2010 to 2030 in five years intervals. From the technological option, heat pump has great potential operating in DH in the Helsinki metropolitan area, it will be turned from peak load producer to the baseload heat producer. Instead, heat pro-duced by combined heat and power plants (CHPs) will not be dominant in DH system in the future year. Waste incineration power plant in Vantaa will increase the total annual opera-tion time to about 7000h, it will export more heat to Helsinki city when heat transmission is allowed. From the economic aspect, average heat production cost will decrease with more biomass penetration and heat recovery technology implemented in the future year. Natural gas may appear less profitable with higher CO2 prices after phasing out the coal. About cli-mate change impact, CO2 emission has an 88% reduction in 2030 compared with 2010.