Building and district energy
In a district heating network and across a building stock the measurement points are many and they are scattered. Flow temperature, return temperature, flow rate and power together tell you which site consumes abnormally and where in the network the temperature difference falls short. DataPortia™ collects them into one time series and produces per-site consumption reports automatically.
Short answer
DataPortia collects district heating and building measurements from an OPC UA server, calculates consumption with calculation points and produces per-site reports on a schedule. Deviations show up in the trends and in the alarms. Everything runs on your own server, so consumption data never leaves the organisation's network.
What is typically reported from a district heating network?
Consumption by site and by period, the flow and return temperatures of the network, the flow rates and the temperature difference derived from them. On that basis you can see which site consumes abnormally compared with before and where the return temperature is too high. All of it comes from the same measurements the automation system already collects — what is needed is storage and calculation on top of them.
| What is reported | Where it comes from | The part of DataPortia |
|---|---|---|
| Consumption by site | Power measurement over time | Calculation point kW → kWh, scheduled report |
| Temperature difference | The difference between flow and return temperature | A formula-based calculation point |
| State of the network | Temperatures and flow rates in real time | Dashboard widgets placed freely |
| Change in consumption | The same measurement over a longer period | History trends, zoom and presets |
| Deviations | Alarms and events | Severity, area and time filtering |
In detail: why the temperature difference is worth calculating once
The temperature difference is the difference between the flow and the return temperature, and it is calculated with a calculation point in the same way at every site. When there is a single definition, the sites are comparable with each other — and the method cannot drift according to who produced the report.
The same point adapts to the time range of the report, so the daily, monthly and heating season reports all use the same definition without a separate calculation.
How many sites fit into the system?
The limiting factors are throughput and the licence tier, not the number of sites as such. DataPortia takes in over 2 000 values per second. The licence is determined by the number of simultaneous OPC UA connections: if all the sites are visible on the OPC UA server of a single control room, that is one connection regardless of how many sites sit behind it.
Across a building stock this difference is often decisive. A hundred measurement points on one server is, in licence terms, one connection; a hundred separate servers is another matter. Tell me the structure of the network and I will assess the right tier.
In detail: what disk space a long history needs
Automatic compression starts after two days and saves over 90 % of the disk space. The retention period is adjustable and 24 months by default — comparing heating seasons needs at least two seasons, so the default covers that as it stands.
The minimum requirement for disk is a 100 GB SSD; the actual need is sized according to the number of points and the retention period. See Technical specifications.
How is abnormal consumption detected?
In two ways. In the trend view the same site is seen alongside earlier periods, so the change stands out by eye. Alternatively the AI analysis searches the data for deviations with a local language model — without a network connection and without consumption data going anywhere. The AI analysis is a separate add-on.
In detail: what local AI analysis is used for
Anomaly detection, forecasts and cost optimisation, and natural language questions about the process data. The model is run with Ollama on the same server, so the questions and the data never leave the network.
Across a building stock the typical use is to ask which sites deviate most from their own earlier consumption. Read more on the Local AI analysis page.
Frequently asked questions
Below are the questions that come up most often in building and district energy environments: what is required of the automation system, in what form the reports arrive, whether old consumption data can be brought along and whether the data stays on your own network. Tell me the structure of the network and I will answer in more detail.
What is required of the automation system?
An OPC UA server and credentials that give read access to it. Nothing else is needed: DataPortia connects to the existing server as a client and writes nothing to it. No software is installed on the automation side. Siemens, ABB, Valmet, Beckhoff, Schneider Electric, Honeywell and Rockwell Automation are compatible — as is any other OPC UA compatible system.
In what format do the consumption reports come?
PDF, CSV or Excel, scheduled on a daily, weekly or monthly rhythm. The report template defines the logo, cover page, page size and signature blocks, so the report comes out the way the organisation's own document is meant to look. See Automated reports.
Can old consumption data be brought along?
Yes, if the OPC UA server has a historical archive in use. The history import reads the past period from there and skips the parts already imported, so the same period can be run again without duplicates. Without a historical archive, collection starts from the moment of installation.
Does consumption data stay on our own network?
It does. DataPortia is on-premises software: data acquisition, the database, reporting and AI analysis run on your own Windows or Linux server. No internet connection is needed. Data moves outwards only in the way separately agreed, and the interface is read-only.
How do I test this on my own network?
Install the trial version on your own server and connect it to the control room's OPC UA server. The trial runs 30 days, with every feature except the HA add-on, and no commitment. Take a few sites along and produce a monthly report from them — that shows straight away whether the right points come through and whether the figures match what you have been given elsewhere.