Future-proofing operations with flexibility as an opportunity instead of a risk
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we unpacked the growing complexity DHC companies face today: shifting energy markets, real-time heat dynamics, and a rapidly evolving asset landscape.
In this article, we explore how smart digital solutions not only help companies navigate this complex landscape but transform into a strategic advantage for future-proofing heating grids.
Why digital is essential for building flexibility
DHC companies need to leverage smart digital solutions to manage operational complexity and transform flexibility into a strategic advantage.
Such solutions create value from the immense amount of data that is often already available. They transform data into actionable insights, support decision-making, and provide the foundation for automating processes and choices that are too complex for human analysis alone.
A smart optimisation layer provides a new level of system understanding and turns flexibility into a powerful asset.
Digital strategy is not just about addressing today’s challenges but also building a future-ready foundation. Most DHC companies have already taken steps toward this goal, using smart daily calculations to guide their heat and power production.
A simple check is asking: How much value does your current digital landscape create from every new hourly sensor reading?
If any data signals from your DCS, IoT devices, or smart heat meters still aren’t reaching a smart, digital layer, you’re leaving value on the table.
Electricity markets are expected to grow more volatile in the coming decades. And DHC systems are equipped with innovations such as complex renewable assets and demand-side control. This means deploying a smart optimisation layer is essential.
With the right digital strategies, DHC companies can seize flexibility to remain competitive and profitable while always ensuring reliable heat production.
What are the key steps to achieving this?
Key steps to building a digital strategy
1. Connecting data across systems
Integrate real-time signals from e-markets, SCADA/DCS systems, network sensors, and smart meters to create a unified and overarching view of the actual system conditions and flexibility.
2. Forecasting heat demand with network dynamics included
Go beyond basic demand predictions toward more detailed and accurate forecasting. Anticipate energy needs for each user and track how heat moves through each pipe in the network.
Ensure that flow limits, pressure drops, and thermal stress level are not exceeded to prevent bottlenecks. This approach reveals exactly where and when energy is needed, ensuring efficient distribution strategies.
3. Maximising the flexibility of storage
Unlock the full potential of thermal storage to shift production over time, enhancing flexibility and balancing loads. Thermal storage offers a cost-effective solution, being over 100 times cheaper than electricity storage. A heating network can also serve as ‘one big accumulator,’ storing heat directly within its pipes.
Learn more about leveraging storage flexibility here: Maximising flexibility with thermal storages without operational risk
4. Understanding the real efficiency of your assets
Base decisions on real-world performance rather than outdated manufacturer specifications. Over time, assets may deteriorate or change, affecting efficiency. A data-driven understanding of fuel use, temperature sensitivities, and power-to-heat ratios ensures operational schedules are both efficient and feasible.
Unlocking flexibility with a Digital Twin
Digital Twin technology provides companies with various capabilities across both design and daily operations:
Forecast demand and dispatch ahead of time: By combining historical data, weather forecasts, and real network dynamics, the Digital Twin predicts area-level demand and builds a coherent dispatch plan days in advance - including e-boilers, heat pumps, and thermal storage.
Optimise heat production using real-time network insights: Gradyent’s Digital Twin integrates physics-based calculations with live data to help operators create the most cost-effective production plans. This ensures that heat is delivered reliably, efficiently, and at the lowest possible cost, taking into account actual asset performance and system constraints.
Unlock flexibility and maximise value in energy markets: Gradyent enables operators to align heat production with electricity market conditions in real-time, optimising the use of flexible assets like buffers and electric sources to capture value from intraday, balancing, and reserve markets.
Simulate “what-if” scenarios for smarter decisions: Operators can explore the impact of changes to asset output, network configuration, or heat demand. These simulations help validate decisions in advance, enabling them to push the system’s limits while maintaining reliability and efficiency.
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Gradyent’s real-time Digital Twin Platform makes this possible with proven results. In one case, Gradyent found that real-time dynamic price calculations and optimisation on a minute-to-minute basis could increase the profitability of existing CHP plants by more than 4%, while reducing CO2 emissions with more than 3% in winter months, based on a case involving diverse assets, locations, and fuel choices.
This demonstrates that flexibility goes hand-in-hand with profitability.
Are you interested in learning more about how the Digital Twin works? Get in touch with us to schedule a demo.
This three-part series is a part of our Flexibility Whitepaper.