Reliability Challenges of District Heating Systems in the Context of Technological and Organizational Innovations

This paper reviews current trends in the evolution of district heating systems and some emerging areas of their technological transformation related to the reliability of operation. It also contributes insights into advancing the methodology for reliability analysis and synthesis for these systems. The study highlights the issues of the heat network infrastructure health through a case study of the Irkutsk region, which elucidates their severity. We conclude by noticing an imbalance in the reliability issues of evolving district heating systems: on the one hand, the technological changes and structural transformations are irreversible, on the other hand, a range of major unresolved issues hinder and slow down the adoption of innovations and advancement of the systems