Big data visualization made easy

Improve operational efficiency at Svebølle-Viskinge district heating plant in Denmark using Decathlon Software.

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The district heating plant implemented a data acquisition project to improve its operational efficiency through a much more detailed and better overview of the district heating network. ABB Decathlon Software is used to visualize this large amount of data.

Reduction of heat loss to 33 percent

Everyone is talking about “Big Data”. And Big Data technologies are now also available at the district heating network in the West Zealand cities Svebølle and Viskinge. This plant today serves 550 customers. 

Like many other district heating plants, Svebølle-Viskinge Fjernvarmeselskab (SVF) would like to reduce heat loss in their network. SVF's heat loss is currently around 36 per cent. The Decatlon solution will reduce the loss to 33 percent, equivalent to 500 MWh which is around 14,000 USD for fuel. This equals the heating consumption of 25-30 households per year.

Line loss is partly due to the fact that prior to this project, SVF had limited knowledge about what was actually going on in the network and with the consumers. There was operational data from the district heating plant's SCADA system and consumption data from individual households, but the temperatures and other values from the network and consumers, had been a partially unknown field.

Therefore, the company launched a data collection project to help optimize operational effectiveness through a better overview of the entire district heating network all the way to the individual consumer, using a range of technologies from different players.

Main facts

Industry Energy and utilities
Customer Svebølle-Viskinge district heating plant
Country Denmark
Solutions

Svebølle-Viskinge district heating plant in Denmark (click to enlarge)

From only few to millions of data

The project consists of several different initiatives. SVF purchased new smart meters, electronic devices that can record and store consumption of each household even in minute intervals. They also used Rambøll, one of the world’s leading district heating consultancies, to install the hydraulic program System Rørnet that calculates the theoretical data in the network and with the consumers.

Until a few years ago, SVF read the meters in the households only once a year, like many other district heating companies. But henceforth, data with several values from 550 consumers are now available once per hour. In addition, downloaded data from the SEAS-NVE's temperature sensors in the network are available every 10th minute. The SEAS-NVE network provider delivers the infrastructure that makes it possible to remotely connect units in a LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) network.

The Decathlon Services accessor platform acts like a service bus that interface the various systems, which are either cloud based or on premise. This allows the end-users to analyze large amounts of industrial data in the right context and make informed decisions (click to enlarge)

Visualization of data using drag and drop

However, all the data are worthless if the facility manager at the district heating plant cannot use it for something useful. That’s where ABB's Decathlon software comes into play.

“Being able to access a variety of data in a simple and user-friendly way is an important parameter,” says Carsten Fosvang, project manager at SEAS-NVE. “Decathlon is a system with a high user friendliness, where it is very easy to access and visualize the data. This means that it is an important decision-making tool, because at all levels of the organization, and also across a project team have access to the same data and can monitor heating networks, production facilities, or whatever might be needed.”

The hydraulic / thermal calculations in System Rørnet provide the necessary data to Decathlon, which can then visualize the calculation results.

Carsten Fosvang, project manager at SEAS-NVE
"Decathlon is a system with a high user friendliness, where it is very easy to access and visualize the data."

Annual fuel savings of almost 14,000 USD

Jens Henning Jensen, Chief Consultant at Ramboll, estimates that collection and visualization tools like Decathlon will be important management instruments for district heating companies over the next years, as they will have access to more and more data.

“As I see it, the benefits for SVF is that they now get an overview of the operation throughout the network and not only get the data from the SCADA system. The overall picture, I think, can be a great advantage for many district heating companies,” says Jens Henning Jensen.

System Rørnet and Decathlon began operation in the Svebølle-Viskinge district heating plant in September 2016. The expectation is that these measures will create annual savings of 12,000-13,000 USD for SVF alone in fuel costs because, among other things they can optimize flow and return temperatures in the network.

Jens Henning Jensen, Chief Consultant at Rambøll
"As I see it, the benefits for SVF is that they now get an overview of the operation throughout the network and not only get the data from the SCADA system."

Additional facts

ABB Decathlon Software at SVF is used for:

  • Display of pressure, temperature and flow transmitters à Higher level of detail
  • Integration with the SCADA system à Higher level of detail and optimized control
  • Linking with System Rørnet supplements measurements with data throughout the network, providing the opportunity optimize operations

Decathlon is easy to install and maintain, and you always have the option to supplement it with additional productivity apps.

Learn more

Article in Danish
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