Viborg Varme transforms its heating system with Gradyent’s Digital Twin
Viborg Varme is a Danish energy company that delivers service to 11,000 customers with a total of 300 GWh of heat consumption. The transformation of Viborg Varme focuses on the switch from a gas-powered operation to a fully electrified heating grid. To this end, the company aims to provide a resilient heating supply at the lowest possible price for its residents, all the while generating minimal CO2 emissions.
Challenge
Transforming towards a smart energy system, Viborg Varme has been working on reducing temperatures and has successfully managed to operate the heating grid with average temperatures of 65-75 degrees Celsius.
The company has also introduced three large heat pumps, each at approximately 7 MW, in different locations across the network. Moreover, Viborg Varme has planned for a 50 MW e-boiler to be placed next to the 19,000 m3 heat accumulator. This combination of production assets will be able to replace 90 % of the current gas-fired CHP and boilers.
To realise the transformation, control the heating grid, maximise the system flexibility, and enable real-time optimisation, Viborg Varme required innovative digital tooling.
Solution
Following a search for a long-term digitalisation partner, Viborg Varme decided to team up with Gradyent and implement Gradyent's Digital Twin. A Digital Twin is a digital copy of the end-to-end physical heating system, which combines geographical, weather, and sensor data with physics-based models and AI.
As our district heating network is growing in complexity, having an end-to-end view of the system is critical. In our search for a digital partner, Gradyent emerged as the only player that can achieve this end-to-end view in real-time.
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Results
Towards heating network control
The first phase in the implementation of the Digital Twin focused on network control. The goal is to optimise the forward temperatures on a minute-to-minute basis, which is crucial to enabling higher heat pumps’ COPs.
Live system optimisation
Moreover, the Digital Twin will calibrate all pressure data on a continuous basis to provide an accurate picture of the pressure levels throughout the entire network. Through a secure integration with SCADA, the solution provides live recommendations for optimal control directly to the operators in the control room.
Eventually, the Digital Twin will be responsible for setting the recommended optimal parameters for the SCADA system for automated control.
Supporting network growth
To provide optimal recommendations, Gradyent ensures that the Digital Twin is continuously updated and in sync with real-life circumstances. This is particularly relevant for Viborg Varme as the company keeps onboarding new customers with an estimated network growth of 40% over the next seven to ten years.
As Viborg Varme’s district heating grid is rapidly changing, the Digital Twin will play a crucial role in effectively managing the growing system complexity and providing a resilient heating supply at the lowest possible price with minimal CO2 emissions.
“Viborg Varme is exemplary for the district heating system of the future. We are thrilled to support them in this exciting journey to enable a resilient and sustainable heat supply for Viborg.”
Daniel Frank, Director Nordics & Baltics at Gradyent