Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
To meet the 2045 climate targets, emissions from providing heat need to be significantly reduced. Heat networks in urban areas offer a cost-effective and low-emission solution. However, there are some challenges for cities, municipalities and counties, which we are happy to help with with our tools and expertise in district heating. Our main areas of work are:
- Expansion, new and transformation planning
- Digitalization
- Large heat pumps and source development
- Modern operational management strategies
You will also benefit from a wide network through our activities in the Fraunhofer-CINES network on the topic of heat (Cluster of Excellence Integrated Energy Systems).
Expansion, New and Transformation Planning
Climate-neutral heat delivery requires human resources, data, expertise and software tools. The research and development process requires conducting feasibility studies, exploring new areas and transforming existing networks.
To this end, we at Fraunhofer ISE design tailor-made transformation strategies and solutions using our expertise and excellent tooling equipment. The strategies obtained are systematized and evaluated in terms of technical feasibility, CO2 reduction and energy efficiency feasibility.
Digitalization
Digitization and the use of data-based software can significantly increase the efficiency of your working hours and your district heating network. To support you in the development of your data and digitalization, we accompany you in the process with our expertise and develop specially tailored digitization strategies together with you. We also identify potential and new applications that you can take advantage of.
Our expertise in the field of digitization includes the preparation, analysis and synthesis of data.
Large Heat Pumps and Source Development
Another essential building block for a low-emission heat supply is large-scale heat pumps, which make environmental and waste heat utilizable.
With our research, we aim to integrate large-scale heat pumps into the overall transformation of the heat and power infrastructure, so that they can make a significant contribution to the coupling of sectors.
To achieve this, we are investigating large-scale heat pumps with different integration concepts and heat sources into the district heating networks at different locations in Germany.
For the development of environmental heat from surface waters such as rivers or lakes by means of large-scale heat pumps, Germany has so far lacked consistently developed environmental regulatory frameworks. Therefore, we analyze water systems and their exploitable potential and structure them with regard to their thermo-ecological properties. In addition, we support you in the development of innovative heat transfer concepts for water bodies.
Modern Operation Management Strategies
As heat is increasingly generated in the future and more and more industrial plants will feed heat into grids, the complexity and number of feeders into a heat grid will increase. To operate your heat grid as efficiently as possible under these circumstances, you need modern operational strategies that can map your current grid as well as the future grid and optimize heat delivery.
To do this, we develop digital twins that allow you to monitor your grid and simulate it in real time. To optimize operations, we rely on dynamic control strategies such as Model Predictive Control (MPC), which predicts consumption as an integral part of load forecasting. The "predictive" mode enables hydraulically complex grids with multiple generator sites as well as clusters of individual generators at one site to be efficiently operated.