The integration of different energy sectors, such as electricity, thermal, and mobility, can generate several benefits for the energy system, increasing its flexibility, facilitating an increase in the share of renewable generation, and ensuring greater overall efficiency. In fact, thanks in part to the use of hydrogen, heat and gas carriers allow significant amounts of energy to be stored, facilitating the use of renewable energies during peak production periods.

The objective of the three-year research activity is to design and validate appropriately scalable and flexible control architectures for multi-vector systems, with a focus on the integration of the electric grid and the heat network. Software and laboratory platforms are required for the design, and for the subsequent validation and demonstration phases.

From the perspective of software platforms, DHN4Control, a library for the simulation of thermal-hydraulic systems with a focus on district heating systems, was developed. The library was implemented through OpenModelica Editor in Modelica language. Using this library, a simulation was created based on a particular configuration of the real system of the RSE heat network. In parallel, a nonlinear MPC control algorithm coupled with an Extended Kalman Filter was developed to control the network and estimate its state, respectively, composed of unmeasured variables. Finally, a case study was analyzed in which the proposed control architecture was tested on the simulator developed in Modelica to verify its operation and performance.

Regarding the development of the laboratory platform, the implementation of the district heating plant demonstrator, integrated within the Distributed Energy Resource Test Facility (DERTF), was continued. In particular, the installation of the components, the realization of the hydraulic interconnections and their insulation, and the definition of the structure of the plant management software and the start of its implementation in the control PLC were completed.