The Waste Heat Explorer offers the possibility to conduct a rapid techno-economic evaluation of the utilization of waste heat potentials for specific use case. With the user input of a few relevant parameters for the specification of the heat demand, the economic feasibility of the waste heat utilization is calculated via the criteria of levelized cost of heat (LCOH) in comparison to chosen reference heat costs (e.g., a biomass boiler). To consider the seasonal mismatch between demand and supply, four characteristic time slots, i.e. the four seasons of the year, are considered.

This assessment should give the user an indication of whether the utilization of the waste heat source under the assumed boundary conditions represents a potentially reasonable investment. However, this indication is only preliminary, a more detailed evaluation would be required for an investment decision. 

Calculation Method

The calculation is covering the components required for the heat delivery as shown in Figure 1

Figure 1 Covered components for techno-economic evaluation

Based on the input parameters (Table 1), the components are technically designed and cost-assigned for different scenarios. The algorithm compares the seasonally resolved available waste heat with the heat demand to determine a coverage rate per season and an aggregated coverage gap. In the further course, the waste heat temperature is compared with the temperature demand of the sink. If the source temperature is lower than the sink temperature, the use of a heat pump is necessary and it is sized accordingly. Different scenarios are considered in regard to the seasonal storage sizes: no storage, 25% of the coverage gap, 50%, 75% and 100%. The LCOH are calculated for each scenario with following formula: 

CAPEX0        Initial investment costs of the component

OPEXi                Operating costs (fixed and variable) in period i

Ei                Amount of heat supplied in period i

r                Interest rate

n                Component lifetime

The resulting LCOH for the waste heat utilization are compared with the heat reference price (e.g., a biomass boiler) to provide an indication about the economic feasibility.

A more detailed description of the calculation method is given in the final project report.

Table 1 Input parameters of source and sink for techno-economic evaluation. Parameters with asterisks must be specified by the user.