AbSolut – Absorption technologies as solutions for sustainable district heating and cooling

In Austria, more than 2.1 million people and numerous businesses and companies are currently supplied with energy by means of district heating [1]. Currently, an energy volume of 19 TWh/a is provided to consumers, with expected growth rates of 0.8% per anno in the next five years. This demand is currently being met through investments in network infrastructure and supply units and optimisation of the overall system. At the same time, however, a considerable share of available renewable and waste heat cannot be used for within the existing grids due to comparatively low temperatures of those heats.

The potential application possibilities of absorption heatpumping-systems (AHS) shows – with flue gas condensation in the power plants, the thermally-driven local district cooling or absorption heat exchangers – a broad spectrum to increase energy efficiency in district heating and/or cooling supply. Up to now, these technologies are hardly used in Central and Northern Europe, although they are available on the market.

The three-year cooperative project AbSolut meets this challenge by showing up useful applications of AHS as key to increase energy efficiency in district heating & cooling. Concrete application examples of the energy supply are investigated in detail. A techno-economic analysis provides a scientific basis for invest-decisions, which could be used to evaluate applications with ecological added value. This research project also focuses on the further development of easy-to-use “engineering tools”. The demonstration of successful integration concepts with high replication potential are intended to increase the market penetration of these systems in Austria and Europe.

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[1] Energy in Austria Facts, figures and data. Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW). Vienna, 2019.