Energy transition is progressively replacing conventional fossil-based energy systems with renewable energy sources, which are by nature not flexible and cannot be managed to meet energy needs. Hence, it is of key importance to have flexibility on the demand side to ensure a balance between energy supply and demand. One possible strategy to achieve this is known as Demand Side Management (DSM), consisting of actively changing user demand to obtain a more efficient system operation. When heat is supplied by heat pumps, and therefore it is tranferred into an electricity demand, DSM allows electricity to be stored as heat within the building thermal mass (e.g. by varying the temperature set-points), in order to reduce the electricity demand in subsequent periods. This study aims to characterize the potential of heat pumps supplying heat to buildings in order to implement this DSM strategy and, therefore, to offer flexibility or balancing services to the power grid. The dynamic behavior of a binary system comprising a building and a heat pump, including the heat distribution circuit for generality, is simulated through a model in MATLAB®/Simulink®. A set of experiments is carried out by preheating the building at different hours of the day (i.e. increasing the comfort set-point) and by sensitivity analyses on the building thermal properties (i.e. time constant). The flexibility potential is assessed by defining and evaluating key performance indicators that represent the behavior of the binary system, e.g. peak energy reduction, amount of electricity used to preheat the building and avoided during its discharge, and building discharge time. The results remark the periods of the day in which it is more effective to apply DSM, leading to a potential electricity saving of up to 5 % thanks to a more efficient operation of the heat pump, when considering its variable performance with the load. The discharge time of the building is also highly variable, ranging from 2 h to 8 h. The analysis of these indicators can open up new management opportunities in communities of buildings.
FLEXIBILITY POTENTIAL OF HEAT PUMPS THROUGH DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT IN BUILDINGS / Gambarotta, A.; Morini, M.; Saletti, C.. - 3:(2024), pp. 1611-1622. (Intervento presentato al convegno 37th International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, ECOS 2024 tenutosi a Rhodes nel 2024) [10.52202/077185-0138].
FLEXIBILITY POTENTIAL OF HEAT PUMPS THROUGH DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT IN BUILDINGS
Gambarotta A.;Morini M.;Saletti C.
2024-01-01
Abstract
Energy transition is progressively replacing conventional fossil-based energy systems with renewable energy sources, which are by nature not flexible and cannot be managed to meet energy needs. Hence, it is of key importance to have flexibility on the demand side to ensure a balance between energy supply and demand. One possible strategy to achieve this is known as Demand Side Management (DSM), consisting of actively changing user demand to obtain a more efficient system operation. When heat is supplied by heat pumps, and therefore it is tranferred into an electricity demand, DSM allows electricity to be stored as heat within the building thermal mass (e.g. by varying the temperature set-points), in order to reduce the electricity demand in subsequent periods. This study aims to characterize the potential of heat pumps supplying heat to buildings in order to implement this DSM strategy and, therefore, to offer flexibility or balancing services to the power grid. The dynamic behavior of a binary system comprising a building and a heat pump, including the heat distribution circuit for generality, is simulated through a model in MATLAB®/Simulink®. A set of experiments is carried out by preheating the building at different hours of the day (i.e. increasing the comfort set-point) and by sensitivity analyses on the building thermal properties (i.e. time constant). The flexibility potential is assessed by defining and evaluating key performance indicators that represent the behavior of the binary system, e.g. peak energy reduction, amount of electricity used to preheat the building and avoided during its discharge, and building discharge time. The results remark the periods of the day in which it is more effective to apply DSM, leading to a potential electricity saving of up to 5 % thanks to a more efficient operation of the heat pump, when considering its variable performance with the load. The discharge time of the building is also highly variable, ranging from 2 h to 8 h. The analysis of these indicators can open up new management opportunities in communities of buildings.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
