FAQ
What input data is taken into account for the network sizing?
Network sizing takes into account the building energy demand, pipe characteristics (material, roughness), and fluid properties (supply and return temperatures, fluid type).
What are the data sources for the network sizing?
Standard steel pipe diameters are based on ISO 6708 tables. Literature standard values are given as defaults for material roughness parameters. These parameters can be edited by the user.
Can the heat demand data be visualized and edited before network sizing?
Yes, the heat demand data can be visualized in the buildings inspector pane. Data can be exported, edited, and re-imported via the tools in the inspector. Both tables of building data (one row per building) and load curve tables (one data point per horu) can be used.
What input data is required before I can start a district heating network design?
We require GIS data (streets, building polygons), energy demand data, network design parameters, cost related parameters for CAPEX calculation and financial parameters related to OPEX calculation.
Which of these input data parameters is mandatory to get a valid design and what parameters are optional?
- Mandatory:
- Building locations are required.
- Street data is used for routing, but if not provided, a direct-line routing can be used.
- Energy Demand Data: You must provide the heat demand for each building. This can be done by uploading a file with the demand data.
- Optional:
- Network Design Parameters: If not provided, default values for pipe material, roughness, and fluid properties will be used.
- Cost Parameters: CAPEX and OPEX parameters are optional. If not provided, cost calculations will not be performed.
What data formats are supported to input the GIS and energy demand data? What naming convention has to be applied to the data attributes?
Supported data formats: GIS data: GeoPackage (.gpkg), KML, CSV with coordinates; Building data: Excel (.xlsx) templates, CSV, ODS; Climate data: Excel table;
Import templates: Available at docs/guides/buildings_table_template_*.xlsx.
Naming conventions: building_id: Unique identifier, q_h_kwh_m2: Space heating demand per m², q_ww_kwh_m2: Domestic hot water demand per m², era: Energy Reference Area, Standard coordinate fields: lat, lon or geometry.
Can I specify the space heating demand and the sanitary hot water demand separately?
Yes, the space heating (q_h_kwh) and domestic hot water (q_ww_kwh) demand are calculated separately. You can also provide this data separately when uploading your own demand data.
Do you support network designs with multiple energy sources?
Yes, you can define multiple Energy Center objects, each with its own set of Thermal Sources.
Can these sources have different supply temperature? Do you calculate the resulting network supply temperature?
The current implementation uses a single supply and return temperature for the entire network, defined in the Network properties inspector. It does not calculate the resulting network supply temperature from multiple sources with different temperatures. Please contact us if you require this functionality.
What pressure setting configurations are supported with the software? Can I design a network for 6 bar, 10 bar, 16 bar pressure at the source?
The software does not directly manage pressure settings in terms of bar at the source. The hydraulic calculations are based on head loss and flow rates. You can define pump characteristics, including the head, which indirectly relates to pressure.
Can I enforce a specific static pressure level in the pipe network?
No, there is no direct way to enforce a specific static pressure level in the pipe network through the UI.
Can I choose to design the main grid with steel pipes and the building connections with PVC pipe?
The pipe material is defined for the entire network. You cannot specify different materials for different parts of the network (e.g., main grid vs. building connections) through the standard UI components. Please contact us if you require this functionality
Can I specify the delta T between supply and return pipes as an input to the design calculation?
Yes, you can specify the supply and return temperatures in the Network Parameters Editor, which determines the delta T.
Can I specify max flow velocity for the different pipe diameters?
No, you cannot directly specify a maximum flow velocity for different pipe diameters. When using the automatic pipe sizing function, pipe diameters are set to the smallest diameter required to maintain flow velocities between 1m/s and 4m/s.
Can I work with the pipe parameters of pipe vendors like Logstor, Isoplus, etc?
Yes, you can input custom pipe cost tables. The Network Parameters Editor allows you to upload a file with pipe costs per diameter, which can be based on vendor data.
Which standards are supported for the simultaneity factor?
The software does not explicitly mention support for specific standards for the simultaneity factor. The load curves are generated based on statistical heat demand models, which inherently include simultaneity considerations. For non-Swiss projects, you would provide the load curve, which should already account for simultaneity. Contact us if you would like support in developing a suitable load curve model for your context.
Can I use my own simultaneity factor for the design?
You can upload your own load curve, which would have your own simultaneity assumptions baked in. There is no direct input for a simultaneity factor.
What costs are taken into account to calculate the network CAPEX?
The Network Costs includes parameters for trenching costs (c_trench_var, c_trench_fixed) and pipe costs (c_pipe_var, c_pipe_fixed). You can also provide a custom cost table per pipe diameter.
Is the total energy loss in the grid calculated ?
Heat losses are calculated across the whole thermal grid in function of the heat transported in each section.
Can I see a graph with the pressure variation in the grid from source to end points?
This item is on our roadmap. Contact support for more information.
Can I create a network to maximize the revenue from the network?
The software is primarily focused on cost optimization. You can input cost and revenue data, the optimization algorithms are geared towards minimizing CAPEX.
Can I create a network with the lowest deployment cost for a given set of buildings?
Yes, the Layout Optimizer is designed to find a network layout with the minimum cost, which can be configured to represent the deployment cost.
Which optimisation criteria are considered in the network design?
The baseline Layout generator creates a network with the shorted length (through the streets) to connect all the selected buildings.
The Layout Optimizer aims to minimize a cost function, which can be configured to represent various costs, such as total pipe cost or total flow distance. The Layout optimiser is a specific additional step that must be run after configuring the network.
Which optimisation criteria are considered in the automated network routing?
The automated network routing is optimised for the shortest path length.
Can the routing algorithm avoid certain streets?
We do not currently offer the option to exclude streets during the automatic routing phase. This item is on our roadmap, please contact us for more information. Generated networks may be manually edited after automatic generation to exlude certain streets.
Can I re-use an existing pipe in the network design?
Curated thermal network data may be imported into the software and used as a starting point for extending a network. The imported data must meet strict data quality requirements. We can help you integrate your data to meet these requirements, contact us for more information.
Where are the pipes routed: can I choose in the center of the street or right/left under the pavement?
The routing is based on the street network data provided and runs in the centerline of the street.
Can the software handle ring networks?
Our pipe sizing and thermal flow algorithms support networks with meshed and ring elements.
Can the software handle meshed networks?
Our pipe sizing and thermal flow algorithms support networks with meshed and ring elements.
Can I design district cooling networks ?
Yes, we support the design of new generation heating and cooling networks.
What data inputs are different for cooling networks compared to heating networks?
The primary difference would be the energy demand data, which must include be cooling demand. The fluid properties (temperatures) would also be different.
Does the Swiss database include data for the sizing of district cooling networks?
Yes, includes Swiss cooling demand data for sizing district cooling networks. Specific cooling demand models are included for the Swiss context. Contact us about developing models for other cases.
What input data is required for a district cooling network for non Swiss projects
Similar to heating networks, you would need GIS data (building polygons), cooling energy demand data, and optionally, network design and cost parameters.
Can I design ambient temperature networks?
Yes, the "5G DHC" network preset operates at temperatures close to ambient (14°C supply, 5°C return), which is characteristic of ambient temperature networks.
Can I design ambient temperature networks in combination with heatpumps?
Yes, the system is designed to be flexible. You can define a Thermal Source that represents a heat pump. Buildings can be configured with booster heat pumps (in Beta 2025.07)
Does the software provide the power required from the heatpumps?
When you define a Thermal Source, you specify its rated power. The software will then use this in its calculations.
For projects in Switzerland:
Q3-2025: Planeto offers enhanced data for Swiss cases, including energy demand and heating and cooling hourly load curves.
What is the base data used for building energy demand?
The base data for building energy demand is derived from the RegBL (Register of Buildings and Dwellings) and the SIA (Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects) standards.