Introducing Solar Thermal “Net Metering” in an Actual small-scale District Heating System: A Case-study Analysis

An energy and economic analysis on an hypothesis of introduction of prosumers in an actual small-scale district heating system (DHS) in Northern Italy has been carried out. The study was performed by means of dynamic simulations of the DHS. The investigated configurations include the transformation of one or more customers in prosumers, producing and self-consuming solar thermal heat, and supplying the DHS with the excess heat produced. For the considered case-study the solar heat fed into the DHS is basically antagonist of the CHP production. This leads to a decrease in the non-renewable energy share for the whole DHS, to a decrease in the profit of the DHS utility and to a profitable investment for the prosumers.