The aim of this study is to analyse the possibilities of converting production and support processes from electricity and fossil fuels to district heating in 83 manufacturing companies in three different Swedish counties. A tool for heat load analysis called Method for Heat Load Analysis (MeHLA) is used to explore how the conversions would affect the heat load duration curves in local district heating systems. Economic effects and impacts on global emissions of greenhouse gases are studied from a system perspective. The study has been conducted considering two different energy market conditions for the year 2030. The results show that there is a potential for increasing industrial district heating use in all analysed counties. When comparing all three counties, the greatest potential regarding percentage is found in Jönköping, where the district heating use in the manufacturing companies could increase by nine times (from 5 GWh to 45 GWh annually). The industrial district heating use could increase by two times (from 84 GWh to 168 GWh annually) in Östergötland and by four times (from 14 GWh to 58 GWh annually) in Västra Götaland. The conversion of the industrial production processes to district heating would lead to a district heating demand curve which is less dependent on outdoor temperature. As a result, the utilization period of the combined heat and power plants would be prolonged, which would decrease district heating production costs due to the increased income from the electricity production. In all analysed counties, the energy costs for the companies decrease after the conversions. Furthermore, the increased electricity production in the combined heat and power plants, and the decreased electricity and fossil fuel use in the industrial sector opens up a possibility for a reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. The potential for the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions is highly dependent on the alternative use of biomass and on the type of the marginal electricity producers. When the marginal effects from biomass use are not considered, the greenhouse gas emissions reduction is between 10 thousand tonnes of CO2eq and 58 thousand tonnes of CO2eq per year, depending on the county and the type of marginal electricity production plants. The highest reduction is achieved in Östergötland. However, considering that biomass is a limited resource, the increase of biomass use in the district heating systems may lead to a decrease of biomass use in other energy systems. If this assumption is included in the calculations, the conversion of the industrial processes to district heating still signify a potential for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, but this potential is considerable lower.
展开▼
