Verdo Production A/S in Denmark operates the district heating plant in Randers. The plant is a 50 MWe wood chip fired CHP, which delivers heat to the city of Randers and its suburbs, equivalent to 36,500 households. A relatively small thermal store makes operational planning relying on local and precise weather forecasts and prognoses crucial.
The daily planning is not always performed by the same person. Verdo Production A/S needed a single, uniform tool that could systematize the planning process with due respect to the restrictions on the technical side.
“Previously, we planned the operation using spreadsheets and graphs mainly from our SCADA system. This made it difficult to maintain a complete overview of the potential opportunities for the days ahead. We mainly only focused on tomorrow’s operation.”
– Preben Dalsgaard Pedersen, System Engineer at Verdo.
Today, Verdo uses energyTRADE to calculate the optimal operation and bids on the Day-Ahead, the regulating and reserve markets. By having all information in energyTRADE, the daily routines become less time consuming as the operator has a detailed overview of the system and the ability to automate bids.
“The advantage of the software is that it calculates the optimal operation and provides a visual overview of the production. Furthermore, it is based on the energyPRO software, which we already use in the annual production planning and for evaluating new plants and expansions.”
– Preben Dalsgaard Pedersen, System Engineer at Verdo.
Please visit www.verdo.dk for more information about Verdo.
Sæby District Heating delivers heat to 3,480 consumers in Sæby. The district heating plant includes two natural gas fired 6 MWe CHPs, a 12 MW electric boiler, three natural gas fired boilers, two heat storage tanks of 2,700 m3 each and 11,900 m2 solar collectors. The many different production units are modelled in energyTRADE and the software calculates the operation that gives the lowest heat price for the consumers.
“We could have chosen a solution from one of the Balance Responsible Parties. They each have their own solutions, and it’s not bad solutions. We would just like to have the freedom you get when having your own solution.” – Pouli S. Rugholt, Operation Manager at Sæby District Heating.
In the energyTRADE solution for Sæby District Heating, the collection of various data used for the daily operational planning has been automated and collected in one window, saving time and providing an overview for the operator. Typically, energyTRADE communicates with both the Balance Responsible Party, the SCADA system and different forecast services, but in principle communication with any type of data provider is possible.
“We save a lot of time. Of course, you can do it all manually, but now we retrieve gas prices and other information automatically. However, it is the freedom that has weighted the most in the decision.” – Pouli S. Rugholt, Operatin Manager at Sæby District Heating.
Sæby District Heating also uses our energyWEB solution, which shows the operation of the plant online at: http://www.emd-international.com/plants/saeby/. Here you can read more about the district heating plant and see a graphical presentation of the historic and current operation.
TVIS is a heat transmission company in the area of the cities Fredericia, Kolding and Vejle in Denmark. The company buys heat from different producers and distributes it to six local district heating networks supplying heat for 55,000 customers, corresponding to 83,000 households. The heat is mainly delivered from the CHP plant, “Skærbækværket”, the Shell refinery and the waste incineration plant, “Energnisten”. At TVIS energyTRADE is used to plan and optimize how the heat is delivered in the cheapest way.
“Since 2010 we have used the software PRESS to predict the heat demand in our area based on consumption and weather data. With energyTRADE we can also calculate how we get the heat at the lowest cost – and from which producers. As expected, this provides a better overview for the operators that plan the next days’ operation.” – Mads Kallestrup Petersen, Project Engineer at TVIS.
The 83-km long transmission lines are controlled and monitored 24/7 from a control room. The operators plan how to cover the heat demand in every corner of the network at the lowest possible heat price and energyTRADE is tailored to assist the operators in this task.
“In addition, the system has also proved to be useful when unexpected situations arise. In case of a breakdown at a heat supplier, the system produces recommendations on how to handle the situation in the best and cheapest way – and that’s a great help, which also saves unnecessary expenses in situations where the experience is missing.” – Mads Kallestrup Petersen, Project engineer at TVIS.
In the pictures above, you can see a map of the heat transmission grid and a screenshot of the energyTRADE model, which illustrates the many separate sites and transmission constraints in the network.
