Advancing the Thermal Network Representation for the Optimal Design of Distributed Multi-Energy Systems

This paper investigates modeling methods with thermal network representation under the scope of optimal design and operation Distributed Multi-Energy System (D-MES). Two approaches are compared: A Mixed‐Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization model a district heating (DHN) simulation model. The MILP was developed for simultaneous layout, sizing, locations energy generation storage technologies to minimize both costs carbon emissions. is represented simplified linear approximation. DHN thermal-hydraulic address non-linear operational performance regarding hourly heat losses, pumping energy, temperature distribution along network. discrepancies in network’s performances from two models identified. further improved by adding new constraints. Results compared demonstrated case study. It reveals that state-of-art MILP-model suffices selection sizing most technologies. Although more computationally intensive, refined can issues distributed solutions.