Porvoon Energia reduces network temperatures with Gradyent

Porvoon Energia is a Finnish energy company with over 35,000 district heating customers. The company signed a 5-year deal with Gradyent in 2023 to build a Digital Twin solution that will provide real-time optimisation and de-risk large investments, preparing the company for future integration of sustainable heating sources.

Challenge 

Porvoon Energia is implementing a major investment program aimed at future-proofing its heating network. To achieve that, the company is decommissioning an old biomass CHP and installing a new 12 MW heat pump, with ambitions to add more low-carbon decentralised sources to the network. 

For example, the company is set to integrate waste heat from Ensto – a project focusing on a heat pump system that combines industrial cooling needs, the transfer of cooling heat to the district heating system and the supply of low-temperature district heat.

The decentralisation of the Porvoo network's heat production with low temperature sustainable sources, greatly increases the system complexity. Porvoon Energia concluded that the current systems for scheduling source dispatch, managing temperature and pressure in the heating grid, and monitoring user performance were insufficient. 

Solution 

Porvoon Energia identified Gradyent as the sole vendor of a Digital Twin solution capable of offering live optimisation to manage its network's expanding complexity. 

Gradyent's Digital Twin provides a real-time digital copy of the entire heating network, integrating geographical, weather, and sensor data with physics-based models and AI. The solution allows for the investigation of potential further temperature reduction without affecting security of supply.

Results 

Real-time optimisation to reduce temperatures 

The Digital Twin allowed the study of the local effect of temperature and hydraulics on specific users as well as the impact on the entire network and power plants. Multiple dynamic simulations were performed to cover the entire year and examine the effect at the level of each user, pipe and production unit in the network. This would be extremely challenging to accomplish using a conventional offline parametrised model. 

Porvoon Energia will maximise the performance of the newly installed heat pump by lowering network forward temperatures. Increasing the heat pump's COP will enhance efficiency and allow the network to function with more sustainable sources that perform better at lower temperatures.

Through live temperature optimisation, Porvoon Energia learned that they could safely reduce temperatures by 3°C with potential of reducing by up to 6°C.

Scenario modelling to de-risk Capex investments

Porvoon Energia’s future plans include scenario modelling with Gradyent following the integration of a heat pump and waste heat integration into the network. The goal is to investigate the operation of these sources while understanding the dynamic interdependency with other assets in the network and ensuring they can operate with no thermohydraulic bottlenecks.

Porvoon Energia was searching for a system that would allow them to conduct numerous what-if scenarios and design studies. On this front, the Digital Twin will enable the analysis of numerous scenarios to determine the technical feasibility of incorporating the new heat pump into the network and other decentralised sources such as waste heat from Ensto. This involves determining the influence on network hydraulics and arrival temperatures, as well as guaranteeing supply security in each scenario analysis. 

The evaluations would eventually demonstrate the potential benefits of incorporating the new heat pump into the network, as well as other low-temperature sustainable sources in the future.

“We’re proud to work with such an innovative company that is undergoing a deep and comprehensive transformation and support its mission of real-time end-to-end optimisation towards greater network efficiency.”

Daniel Frank, Director Nordics & Baltics at Gradyent

Next steps

Gradyent will support Porvoon Energia on the path towards running their entire system, across both production and distribution.

The Digital Twin will play a key role in optimising the heating system throughout the upcoming season. It will lower the forward temperature of the two primary CHPs in the Tolkinnen area while facilitating the integration of heat pumps.

Additionally, further scenario studies will explore the incorporation of cleaner, carbon-free energy sources into the network, with Gradyent providing insights into the dynamic complexities of these transitions.