Flexible Electricity Use for Heating in Markets with Renewable Energy

Wolf-Peter Schill,Alexander Zerrahn

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3366910

Abstract

Using electricity for heating can contribute to decarbonization and provide flexibility to integrate variable renewable energy. We analyze the case of electric storage heaters in German 2030 scenarios with an open-source electricity sector model. Making customary night-time storage heaters temporally more flexible offers only moderate benefits because renewable availability during daytime is limited in the heating season. As storage heaters feature only short-term heat storage, they also cannot reconcile the seasonal mismatch of heat demand in winter and high renewable availability in summer. Generally, flexible electric heaters increase the use of generation technologies with low variable costs, which are not necessarily renewables.

Highlights

Mitigating climate change demands decarbonizing energy supply, and renewable electricity sources play an essential role [1]
For 2030, current legislation foresees a growth to at least 50%, and the German government’s 2019 climate package targets an even faster growth to 65% by 2030.1 At the same time, decarbonization must go beyond current electricity use
By 2017, more than a quarter of gross energy consumption and 14% of greenhouse gas emissions stemmed from space heating [3]

Summary

Introduction

Mitigating climate change demands decarbonizing energy supply, and renewable electricity sources play an essential role [1]. In Germany, often considered a frontrunner in the transition to renewables, they supplied nearly 38% of gross electricity demand in 2018, up from around 6% in 2000 [2]. For 2030, current legislation foresees a growth to at least 50%, and the German government’s 2019 climate package targets an even faster growth to 65% by 2030.1 At the same time, decarbonization must go beyond current electricity use. By 2017, more than a quarter of gross energy consumption and 14% of greenhouse gas emissions stemmed from space heating [3]. One option is the use of renewable electricity in the heating and transportation sectors, often referred to as sector coupling or electrification. In its latest report on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the IPCC puts an emphasis on such electrification of end energy use [1]

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