District heating temperature control algorithm based on short term weather forecast and consumption predictions

District heating grids are complex systems where energy production has to match the consumption load while key system parameters like temperatures and pressures through the grid have to be kept within limits. The choice of a control strategy for the grid depends on the selected key performance indicators. The scientific contribution of this paper is a methodology for controlling the supply water temperature setpoint of a heat power plant using heat consumption predictions. The proposed algorithm aims to provide more heat energy to the difficult consumers when they need it the most. The required input information are the short term weather forecast, the supply hot water temperature propagation delays of the district heating grid as a function of the grid load level and consumption profiles based on historical data or heat consumption models. The methodology is applied on a simplified case study of a 120MW district heating grid. The results showed that within a specific supply water temperature range the performance of the grid in terms of minimum pressure difference at the consumers over a year was significantly better using the proposed proactive algorithm compared to simple reactive and constant temperature control strategies.