Thermo-hydraulic simulation of decentralised solar thermal collectors in a high-latitude district heating system: analysing heat distribution and bottleneck mitigation
Abstract
Integrating solar heat into district heating systems is an established strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating fuel price volatility. However, most previous simulation studies rely on simplified network representations and lack high-resolution thermo-hydraulic analyses capable of capturing consumer-level dynamics and hydraulic constraints such as network bottlenecks. This study addresses these gaps by fully digitalising a medium-sized district heating network using consumer-specific demand data in a state-of-the-art thermo-hydraulic simulation tool. The model is validated against measured data (annual heat load error
Fields of Study & Subjects
Geothermal Energy Systems and Applications
Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic Systems
Integrated Energy Systems Optimization
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Solar Energy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 316
- Pages
- 114825–114825
- Publication date
- 7 July 2026
- Language
- EN