Heat demand mapping and the utilization of district heating in energy systems with a high share of renewables: Case study for the city of Osijek

Highly efficient cogeneration and district heating systems have a significant potential for primary energy savings which are still highly underutilized in the EU. Their potential to greatly increase the flexibility of the overall energy systems through the utilization of power to heat technologies and heat storage makes them a very important factor when it comes to the planning of future energy systems with high shares of intermittent energy sources like wind and PV. The integration and expansion of district heating in existing energy systems requires extensive mapping of heating demand to ensure its optimal design from a technical and economic aspect and to maximize the utilization of waste heat sources, geothermal energy and so on. The goal of this work is to present and utilize a heating demand mapping methodology on a case study for the city of Osijek in Croatia. The obtained data has been used to create scenarios for the development of Osijek’s energy system utilizing district heating and renewable energy sources. The EnergyPLAN modelling tool has been used to perform the energy system analysis created for this paper.