Evaluation of the Ranagård low-temperature district heating network

Future district heating systems face challenges that can partly be met with lower heat distribution temperatures. In two stages since 2016, Halmstad University has run an innovation project to develop a new network configuration that can create return temperatures of 20-25°C, which is lower than the annual average of 45°C in current Swedish district heating networks.

Halmstad Energi och Miljö has used the new configuration in the heat network for the new residential area Ranagård with multi- and single-family houses. As the first network in the world, the lowest possible temperature level can be reached without using heat pumps to reach the customers’ temperature demands.

Evaluation is the primary purpose of this third stage of the University’s innovation project. The evaluation will include an identification of some initial malfunctions, a description of one year’s operation with applied heat balances and network temperatures together with a final system overview.