... heat and power cost profitability thermal distribution networks low-voltage electricity distribution networks optimization heat recovery distributed energy systems operating strategy stand-alone networked heat load following electricity load following no load following variable heat...

... been built. The use of thermal networks is attenuated by several factors. A primary impediment to thermal networking is the high fixed costs of initially installing a network; this investment is profitable but over a longer payback time than the time-horizon desired by many investors (a few years...