Suitability of the CASES Software for Evaluation of District Heating Systems Based on Annual Storage Cycles

摘要

The CASES computer program is a software package for evaluation of community annual-storage energy system concepts. The software models energy systems that provide space and water heating by cascaded heat pumps and cooling by melting of stored ice. CASES computes thermal demands of individual buildings, aggregates these demands into community demands, models system response, and estimates the overall system costs. The Heat-Pump-Centered Integrated Community Energy Systems (HP-ICES) Project has produced a number of system concepts involving annual-storage cycles for which preliminary application feasibility studies have been performed. More rigorous examination of these concepts as well as detailed simulation and analysis of application feasibility would increase understanding of their potential. The CASES software was considered for these purposes, but was found unsuitable for evaluation of HP-ICES concepts and their application feasibility. No alternative software has been identified which will provide these capabilities, and extensive effort would be required to upgrade CASES for the intended concept evaluations. (ERA citation 05:033802)