How do business models for prosumers in the district energy sector capture flexibility?

Abstract

The apparent usefulness of prosumers in the district energy (DE) grid, with the transition to 4th generation district heating (4GDH) and smart energy system is beginning to be realized. Similarly, there is a burgeoning interest in the exploitation of flexibility in the DE grid. But, whether the business models for prosumers also capture the flexibility provided by the prosumers is doubtful. Our current study ponders on: what are the business models for prosumers in the heating sector? do they capture flexibility? And, if so, how do they capture flexibility? A directed Content Analysis of systematically selected scientific literature is analyzed to investigate the business models for prosumer integration in the DE sector, and how they capture flexibility. Fifteen scientific articles were chosen through a systematic selection process. The selected literature was analyzed under the following categories: research objectives or research questions, methodology used, key actors considered, key technologies, pricing logic of heat, control of the prosumer system, computation of benefits and flexibility consideration. The findings from the selected articles show that when looking at how prosumers can supply peak heat, most studies consider the marginal cost of heat supply as an important parameter in the price logic. Similarly, the benefits are computed in a system-wide manner as the difference between the marginal cost of heat either through production from DE system or through production from the prosumer. In calculating the marginal cost of heat investment costs are not considered, which is not conducive for positive decision-making by the potential prosumer looking to invest in heat pumps or excess-heat exploiting technologies.