Abstract
Grid-edge technologies (GET) enable and amplify the impact of three emerging energy system trends: electrification, decentralisation, and digitalisation. Smart grid integrated heat pumps with thermal energy storage enable both the electrification of heating and decentralised demand response. Such power-to-heat technologies simultaneously decarbonise heating and facilitate the grid integration of more variable renewable electricity in a cost-effective manner. This may help to explore and exploit untapped wind generation potential. This study explores the flexibility potential of a domestic scale heat pump with thermal energy storage in a typical Irish home in December. The system is simulated to investigate demand-side flexibility and sensitivity to both heat pump and thermal storage capacities for three days with wind energy shares of 7%, 25%, and 60%. Using real-time electricity prices and optimising for operational cost, the implicit demand flexibility potential is quantified with different combinations of heat pump power and storage capacity. The results suggest that 33-100% of critical loads can be shifted dynamically to low-cost periods. Optimised system design depends on local climate, heat demand profile, optimisation horizon, and the type of heat pump. Optimisation with genetic algorithm yielded near-global optimal results approximately 40 times faster than with exhaustive enumeration.
Highlights
Electrification, decentralisation, and digitalisation are key emerging energy system trends
The morning peak is affected where daily minimum temperatures are experienced, and people get up for work. The results of this explorative study offer a snapshot of the load shifting potential of implicit demand response with optimised control schedules for different heat pump and thermal energy storage (TES) capacities
This study explores the flexibility potential of a heat pump and thermal energy storage as a grid-edge technology
Summary
Electrification, decentralisation, and digitalisation are key emerging energy system trends. Electrification of heat by means of heat pumps enables the decentralisation of demand response through digitalised, automatic real-time optimisation of consumption. The automatic real-time optimisation of a domestic scale air source heat pump (ASHP) and thermal energy storage (TES) offers decentralised demand response to the grid. The approach is optimised for a detached house in Ireland with a C2 energy rating on three consecutive days in December with varying shares of variable renewable electricity of 7%, 25%, and 60% on the grid. The section briefly describes the simulated model and optimisation approach, followed by a section that discusses the acquired results in the context of the study's limitations leading into some concluding remarks and suggestions for further research
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