Performance assessment of district cooling system coupled with different energy technologies in subtropical area

Abstract

In the subtropical urban area with a high density of buildings, district cooling system is regarded as an efficient alternative to supply cooling to a group of buildings with high efficiency and low cost. Appropriate design can render the district cooling system to achieve good performance. This paper attempts to study the performance of the district cooling system integrated with different energy technologies in a new development area. Performance of district cooling system with thermal storage system is calculated to level the energy consumption and reduce monthly bill. Results are compared with that of hydro pumped storage system and recommendations are given about the design and control the thermal storage system under current local tariff. The performance of district cooling system integrated with the combined cooling, heating and power system is also investigated to make full use of the primary energy. Performance of the system designed based on two ways are studied. Results show that the cogeneration system is beneficial for both the investors and users. Suggestions are given to help improve the performance of the district cooling system in the new development area by coupling with different energy technologies.