DataRen, a Territorial Energy Demand Modelling Tool

Abstract

This paper presents a tool allowing for characterization of heat, electricity and cooling demand for any portion of the territory of the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland). This project is conducted in cooperation with the local energy utility company Services Industriels de Genève and its final goal is to offer to all stakeholders a uniform spatiooral database to be used for the purpose of territorial energy planning. The added value is to consolidate the various data and estimations models into a single data container and to share the resulting data (GIS and hourly load curves) on a web-service platform. The model behind the tool operates in two steps. First the yearly demand of the various energy services (space heating, domestic hot water production, electricity, comfort cooling and process cooling) are estimated at building level, whenever possible using energy bills. Data gaps are filled using statistical extrapolations models. In a second step, these annual aggregated demands (at district level) are characterized in terms of hourly dynamic, for a common reference year, by re-scaling monitored load curves collected on various case studies. Finally, for a chosen district the tool evaluates the impact on energy demand of some prospective scenarios, as adding of new buildings and/or retrofitting existing ones.