Abstract
The transition to a sustainable society and a carbon-neutral economy by 2050 requires extensive deployment of renewable energy sources that, due to the aleatority and non-programmability of most of them, may seriously affect the stability of existing power grids. In this context, buildings are increasingly being seen as a potential source of energy flexibility for the power grid. In literature, key performance indicators, allowing different aspects of the load management, are used to investigate buildings’ energy flexibility. The paper reviews existing indicators developed in the context of theoretical, experimental and numerical studies on flexible buildings, outlining the current status and the potential future perspective. Moreover, the paper briefly reviews the range of grid services that flexible buildings can provide to support the reliability of the electric power system which is potentially challenged by the increasing interconnection of distributed variable renewable generation.
Highlights
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From buildings’ perspective, flexibility is crucial in the context of the goals of decarbonization, energy saving and high-renewable energy systems (RES) integration, including thermal and electricity storage, to achieve the nearly zero energy building (nZEB) target
The on-site energy ratio (OER, Equation (8)) is defined as the ratio between energy supply from local renewable sources and energy demand [59]. This Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), rather than considering only the generation of more exported energy versus its importation to the grid or individual buildings, emphasis shifting to the maximization of energy performance in a system-based approach
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. All parts of society and economic sectors will play a role in this transition, requiring a combination of economic, environmental and social challenges In this context, the achievement of a carbon-neutral energy system with a high spread of renewable energy systems (RES) requires a paradigm shift in power systems [2,3]. Despite the above-described potential and critical role in future energy grids, the role of buildings as active players in the grid is often neglected in definitions of low- or zeroenergy buildings, and undefined in relevant design standards In this context, defining a methodology to assess and quantify the flexibility of a building is among the most important challenges of the research activities on this topic.
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