SPA-PED
Structural path analysis for quantifying the bi-directional contribution between district heating/cooling and positive energy district
- Category
- Project
- Call
- DUT Call 2025
- Duration
- –
- Project coordinator
- Dalarna University
District heating and cooling (DHC) systems have been well developed for urban energy supply for decades. Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) are relatively new concepts that can be incorporated with DHC systems to offer a sustainable urban transition pathway. However, the relationship between these two concepts stays on qualitative level, mainly because there is no standardized method yet to quantify direct and indirect interactions between them. Therefore, there is a clear and pressing need for a systematic, reproducible and quantitative study of how DHC and PEDs influence each other, both directly (via energy and carbon balances, primary vs. return heat, multi vector interactions) and indirectly (via system flexibility, market integration, renovation strategies, and socio environmental co benefits). The overall research question is how can the full direct and indirect energetic, environmental, economic and social contributions between DHC systems and PEDs be quantitatively traced, normalized and translated into policy-relevant performance indicators?
This project aims to quantify bi-directional energetic, environmental, economic and energy-poverty (EEEE) contribution (‘bi-contribution’ afterwards) between DHC and PEDs from the system perspective. The methodology, structural path analysis (SPA), will be applied to reveal step-by-step proportional bi-contributions of subsystems (direct + indirect) between DHC and PED. Each popular renewable/low-carbon heating and cooling subsystems for DHC or PED, e.g., geothermal systems, heat pumps, solar (photovoltaic/) thermal systems, thermal storage, (waste) heat recovery and energy efficiency of buildings, will be assessed by normalizing their respective bi-contribution to the system impact, based on context-specific weighted factors. An Energy Poverty Index (EPI), integrating affordability, adequacy and equity dimensions, will be integrated into the SPA architecture to quantify social impacts at subsystem level. The project will have four case studies in following countries, such as Sweden (Stockholm), Latvia (Jūrmala), Italy (Campolattaro) and Austria (Bruck an der Leitha).
The SPA-PED project has four specific objectives: (1) to trace the proportional EEEE bi-contributions between DHC and PED; (2) to normalize bi-contribution of different subsystems; (3) to compare different case studies through co-learning process for developing scalability and replicability strategies for PED’s heating and cooling solution; and (4) to recommend the KPIs for PED rating system and EU taxonomy.
The key project results include: (1) a structural path analytical tool for quantifying bi-contributions; (2) the guidelines for integrating renewable and low-carbon solutions for both centralized and decentralized DHC system; (3) the strategies for scale-up and replicate DHC solutions in PEDs; (4) a set of quantitative KPIs to increase social-economic impact. By providing the first multi-dimensional quantification of DHC–PED’s bi-contributions, SPA-PED strengthens methodological foundations for climate-neutral, socially inclusive urban heating and cooling transitions across Europe.
Austria
Italy
Latvia
Sweden
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Stockholms Stad, AFRY-Infrastructure, Universita Degli Studi Del Sannio, Universita Degli Studi Di Catania, Tech4green SRL, Wonderland - Platform For European Architecture, Bürgerinnenkraftwerk Schönbühel-Aggsbach, Kompost Und Biogas Verband Osterreich, Ourpower Energiegenossenschaft Sce Mit Beschrankter Haftung, Verein Energiepark Bruck/Leitha, Rigas Tehniska Universitate
Stockholm Exergi, Comune Di Campolattaro, SIA Jurmalas Siltums
Contact
Xingxing Zhang
xza@du.se