Experimental Analysis of Bi-Directional Heat Trading Operation Integrated with Heat Prosumers in Thermal Networks

District cooling and heating methods that can utilize highly efficient heat pumps and various unused new and renewable types of energy are required to achieve low carbon emissions and zero energy usage in buildings and community units. The technical requirements for the implementation of decentralized thermal networks and heat trading are increasing, both for thermal networks in new buildings and for those remodeled based on existing centralized thermal networks. In this study, a conventional centralized thermal network was implemented as a decentralized thermal network and the possibility of heat prosumers feeding thermal networks was demonstrated experimentally. A real-scale plant was constructed by employing unused thermal energy facilities as prosumers in a school and childcare center based on the existing small-scale block heating and cooling thermal network. The decentralized thermal network and heat prosumer concepts were proven through operation experiments performed on the constructed system in summer and winter. An economic benefit can be achieved by increasing the peak power cost. The experimental results also showed that the proposed bi-directional heat trading reduced carbon emissions by 12.7% compared with conventional centralized thermal systems.