DINO (District heating INvestment Optimization) is a mixed-integer optimization model that determines cost-optimal investment paths and deployment decisions for heat generation in heating networks. The model minimizes the total costs of heat generation given an inelastic heat demand and temperature-dependent network losses.
The model incorporates the techno-economic parameters of the heat generation technologies, a heat demand consisting of different consumers (e.g. residential buildings and industrial processes) and price time series of the available fuels.
DINO calculates the cost-optimized installed capacity of the heat generation technologies, the associated total heat supply costs and the hourly operating profiles of the heat generators and heat storage systems. DINO can thus be used, for example, to determine decarbonization paths and the resulting cost developments for existing heating networks.
