Techno-Economic Assessment of Deployment of Low-Carbon Heating Technologies: An Agent-Based Approach

As the buildings sector accounts for 30% of the final energy consumed worldwide, the deployment of low carbon heating technologies is a key challenge in urban areas, as the heating transition must be tailored to local characteristics. This study presents a novel agent-based simulation framework that accounts for heterogeneous heat demand and accounts for interactions between the demographic, economic and technological aspects of heating systems. This novel framework is demonstrated through techno-economic assessments of low-carbon heating technologies in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. District heat networks having plants equipped with biomass tube boilers have the lowest Levelized Cost of Heat. As the district heat network is extended, gas heating systems rather than heat pumps are the best option for heating buildings with low heat demand.