Prognosis-Based Operating Strategies for Smart Homes with Power-to-Heat Applications

Abstract

The number of PV battery energy storage systems (PV BESS) as well as the number of heat pumps in domestic households in Germany is continuously increasing. Heat pumps enable the use of electricity for both electrical and thermal appliances. Therefore, they can play a major role to enhance the decarbonisation of the heat sector. Heat pumps are operated in combination with a thermal storage in order to reduce the switching cycles of the heat pump. A combination of a heat pump system and a PV BESS could enhance the flexibility of such a system. The flexibility of the battery storage is combined with the flexibility of the heating system by the thermal storage capacity of the building itself and the thermal storage unit of the heat pump.Numerous operation strategies for PV BESS as well as for heat pump systems already exist. The combination of these two systems demands for intelligent operation strategies that use the flexibility of both components and could enhance the overall energy efficiency within the household.This paper analyses the different operation strategies for both electrical and thermal storage systems and examines the gain in efficiency by combined strategies. Operation strategies that enhance battery lifetime of a PV BESS are extended to efficiently fulfil the demand of the heat system additionally.The influence of the operation strategies is investigated by the use of the levelized costs of energy (LCOEnergy). Additionally, the levelized costs of heat (LCOH), as well as the levelized costs of electricity (LCOEle), are calculated to compare the investigated system with conventional electricity and heat systems.The results show that PV BESS with power-to-heat applications enhance the self-consumption and the self-sufficiency rate. Prognosis based operation strategies are suitable to meet the requirements of both systems. Last but not least the results indicate that domestic power to heat (P2H) systems are economically competitive with fossil heating systems.