The feed-in of renewable energies such as solar, wind and biogas into district heating networks will cause fluctuations in temperature and pressures. It is therefore imperative that the existing pipeline infrastructure is qualified to see exactly how it will stand up to the new conditions and if it needs to be adapted.

The UrbanTurn project, which launched last month, brings together a consortium of partners including energy companies, district planners, regulators and academics to assess how and to what extent the local heating networks will be able to operate to their full potential under the new energy supply conditions.

"We want to research how district heating networks in urban areas can cope as optimally as possible with the fluctuating temperature and pressure conditions caused by the feed-in of renewable energies," says Anna Marie Kallert from the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology (IEE), which is coordinating the project. Partners include the energy efficiency association AGFW, HafenCity University Hamburg and various engineering specialists.

The investigations will commence at the IEE's District LAB experimental and test centre in Kassel. Here a realistic, working model will be set up including a flexible test network with connected test stands for heat generators and consumers, as well as a test track for pipeline investigations.

An intelligent, digital control system will allow the operating conditions to be precisely set, measured and continuously monitored. The overarching objective, according to AGFW’s head of development, Heiko Huther’s statement in a press release, is to be able to “deliver practical instructions for action that enable the most efficient feed-in of renewable energies possible” to be distributed to the networks.

UrbanTurn is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy until 2025.