Abstract
This paper presents results from hardware testing which demonstrate that, 1) systems of water heaters under Model Predictive Control can be reliably dispatched to deliver set-point levels of power to within 2% error at very short timescales with minimal sensing requirements, and 2) a classical steady state model commonly used for simulation of electric hot water heaters can be inaccurate vs. results obtained on hardware. These results improve upon the current state of knowledge and show a promising pathway to control hot water heaters as energy storage systems capable of delivering flexible capacity and fast acting ancillary services on a firm basis. These energy products are shown to be deliverable without compromising the availability of hot water at the residence, even in control implementations which do not have sensors to monitor actual water use for the predictive optimization.
Highlights
THIS paper presents the formulation and experimental verification of a predictive strategy which can control an aggregated system of electric water heaters to track a set-point power dispatch signal to deliver flexible capacity or ancillary services on a firm basis with minimal sensing requirements
This strategy is built upon a Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework and enables networks of distributed electric water heaters to perform as large-scale energy storage resources capable of delivering high value grid products at timescales as short as balancing reserves
The profile of hot water use with drawn from each water heater (Puse,waterheater1,2) and the signal for requested balancing power to be distributed across the system of two water heaters (Pbal) are kept consistent across all four test cases
Summary
THIS paper presents the formulation and experimental verification of a predictive strategy which can control an aggregated system of electric water heaters to track a set-point power dispatch signal to deliver flexible capacity or ancillary services on a firm basis with minimal sensing requirements. This strategy is built upon a Model Predictive Control (MPC) framework and enables networks of distributed electric water heaters to perform as large-scale energy storage resources capable of delivering high value grid products at timescales as short as balancing reserves. Despite more than thirty years of proof of concept work and technological enhancements, very little meaningful progress has yet been
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