Optimising district heating infrastructure is key in energy efficiency efforts. Moreover, the customer side is often not integrated in the network’s operation. Customer heating systems are mostly local, static, based on the outside temperature and lack the possibility to provide feedback to the energy supplier.

In Hannover, Germany, a municipal energy service provider recognised the potential for improving energy efficiency while also enhancing the user experience and customer comfort. They chose Danfoss as the solution provider and equipped 24 properties with the intelligent control software, Leanheat Building, part of the Danfoss Leanheat software suite. It integrates buildings into the optimisation of the district heating system and dynamically adapts heat control and flow to actual customer demand based on continuous real-time measurements and AI. This enables flexibility and lower return temperatures in the district heating network. Thus, efficiency potentials on both the grid and the building side are optimally exploited.

Installing Leanheat reduced energy consumption in the properties by 5-9% and reduced peak loads by almost 20%. Thanks to remote access to sensor data, service technicians were also able to identify and solve technical problems more quickly, which increased customer satisfaction. The data provides the supplier with information about weak points in the network, while also informing the building owner about possible potentials for improvement to the properties.