CELSIUS Site Gothenburg

Gothenburg took part in the CELSIUS project with several fields of action focusing on the construction of 900 new apartments, which are to be connected to the district heating system and used as small short-term thermal storage, for connecting ships to the district heating system when docked in the harbour, and for feeding cold water from the river into the district cooling network.

A total of 900 apartments were constructed and these buildings are used as short-term thermal energy storage. When the demand in the global system is low, the buildings are charged. When there is a demand peak, the heat stored in the buildings is discharged and released into the system to partially cover the demand and therefore balance it. This will lead to a reduction in the size of the energy production peaks in the district heating production system whilst still meeting the overall heat demand on the network at peak times. The reduction in energy production will lead to a decrease in the use of fossil fuels and consequently the amount of CO2 emissions produced.

In addition, a ferry that docks in Gothenburg several times a week, the Stena Danica, was connected to the district heating system when in harbour. There are already possibilities available to connect ships at the quayside to the electrical grid, but the heating equipment on board still needs to be used. When using district heating from the city to heat the ship, no emitting machines on board ships would be required when moored in the harbour.

Finally, cold water from the Göta Älv River is fed into the district cooling network. The benefits of district cooling are a decreased use of harmful cooling agents, no noise from cooling towers or compressors, an efficient use of energy and resources, and reduced electricity consumption.