Number Of Heat Pumps Research Articles

Emissions and power demand in optimal energy retrofit scenarios of the Finnish building stock by 2050

Finland and the European Union aim to reduce CO2 emissions by 80–100 % before 2050. This requires drastic changes in all emissions-generating sectors. In the building sector, all new buildings are required to be nearly zero energy buildings. However, 79 % of buildings in Finland were built before 2000, meaning that they lack heat recovery and suffer from badly insulated facades.This study presents four large-scale building energy retrofit scenarios, showing the emission reduction potential in the whole Finnish building stock. Six basic building types with several age categories and heating systems were used to model the energy demand in the building stock. Retrofitted building configurations were chosen using simulation-based multi-objective optimisation and combined according to a novel building stock model.After large-scale building retrofits, the national district heating demand was reduced by 25–63 % compared to the business as usual development scenario. Despite a large increase in the number of heat pumps in the system, retrofits in buildings with direct electric heating can prevent the rise of national electricity consumption. CO2 emissions in the different scenarios were reduced by 50–75 % by 2050 using current emissions factors.

PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HEAT PUMPS MARKET IN POLAND IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NEW EU STRATEGY “A CLEAN PLANET FOR ALL”

The aim of the work was to assess the changes and perspectives for the development of heat pump applications in the context of the EU's strategy “Clean Planet for All” and the Energy Policy of Poland until 2040. The research material and source of information were studies and reports of the "EurObserv'ER" Consortium, the Central Statistical Office of Poland, the European Commission and the Ministry of Energy. The analyses covered the years 2009-2017 with a prospect until 2030. The research shows that the number of heat pumps in operation in the European Union in 2017 amounted to 34.4 million and in comparison to 2012 increased by over 170%. In the same period in Poland, their number increased more than four times, however, the produced quantity increased by only 64%. Despite such significant increase, Poland in terms of the number of installations and the share of heat pumps in obtaining energy from renewable sources is still characterized by a relatively low level of utilization of this potential. Its development may contribute not only to the fulfillment of commitments resulting from the climate and energy policy, but also to a significant contribution to improving the purity of atmospheric air.

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

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.

Potential of a Population of Domestic Heat Pumps to Provide Balancing Service

This paper investigates the model of aggregated heat pumps as a source of the flexible load in Great Britain. A thermal model of a domestic heat pump was presented. A decentralised temperature control algorithm was proposed to control the building temperature, and heat pump’s ON and OFF cycles. Seven case studies were used to identify the suitable number of individual heat pump models that can be aggregated to accurately represent the projected number of heat pumps connected to the 2030 GB’s power system. The simulation results revealed that an aggregated model of 5,000 individual heat pumps was accurately representing the entire number of heat pumps in the Great Britain power system. Also, the power consumption of a group of heat pumps was examined in response to the grid frequency. Simulation results showed that the power consumption of aggregated heat pumps was successfully controlled in response to a frequency change. The controlled heat pumps reduced the dependency on the frequency service obtained by expensive peaking generators.

The addition of heat pump electricity load profiles to GB electricity demand: Evidence from a heat pump field trial

Previous studies on the effect of mass uptake of heat pumps on the capability of local or national electricity grids have relied on modelling or small datasets to create the aggregated heat pump load profile. This article uses the UK Renewable Heat Premium Payment dataset, which records the electricity consumption of nearly 700 domestic heat pump installations every 2minutes, to create an aggregated load profile using an order of magnitude more sites than previously available. The aggregated profile is presented on cold and medium winter weekdays and weekends and is shown to contain two peaks per day, dropping overnight to around 40% of its peak. After Diversity Maximum Demand (ADMD) for the population of heat pumps is calculated as 1.7kW per site; this occurs in the morning, whereas the peak national grid demand occurs in the evening. Analysis is carried out on how heat pump ADMD varies with number of heat pumps in the sample. A simple upscaling exercise is presented to give a first order approximation of the increase in GB peak electricity demand with mass deployment of heat pumps. It is found that peak grid demand increases by 7.5GW (14%) with 20% of households using heat pumps. The effect of the same heat pump uptake on grid ramp rate is also discussed; this effect is found to be minor. Finally, a comparison of heat pump and gas boiler operation is given, discussing day and night time operation and mean and peak power at different external temperatures.

Integration of heat pumps in industrial processes

In spite of several technical and economic advantages, the number of heat pumps in industry is still very low compared to those for house heating. There are several reasons for this; one of the important ones being a lack of knowledge of how to find good, economic applications with the aid of process-integration principles. With the aid of these principles, the appropriate design in terms of heat pump type, size and heat source and sink temperatures can be identified. In doing that, the characteristics of both the industrial process and the heat pump must be taken into account. For the process the pinch temperature, the shape of the composite curves and the number of heat exchangers in the system are the most important factors. For the heat pump, the possible COPs that can be achieved and the ratio of heat to heat sink/heat from heat source are the most important factors, in addition to investment costs, energy prices etc. Methods for optimization of the main parameters in a grassroot design and for finding the most appropriate designs in a retrofit situation have been developed. With the aid of such methods, the potential for heat pumping in industry can be shown to be higher than earlier anticipated. Studies in real plants have verified this.