Grid support coefficients for electricity-based heating and cooling and field data analysis of present-day installations in Germany. (15th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Klein, Konstantin; Langner, Robert; Kalz, Doreen; Herkel, Sebastian; Henning, Hans-Martin
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 162(2016)
• Page Start: 853
• Page End: 867
• Publication Date: 2016-01-15
• Subjects: Grid interaction -- Evaluation method -- Buildings -- HVAC operation -- Electricity consumption -- Monitoring data; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.10.107
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: Two new metrics, the Grid Support Coefficients GSCabs and GSCrel, are proposed. They quantify the coincidence of a load profile and relative availability of electricity in the energy system. The method is applied to monitoring data of heat pumps, chillers and CHP units. The analysis reveals that today, most HVAC systems operate "grid-neutrally". A transition to "grid-optimal" operation requires large thermal storage capacities. Abstract: A new method for assessing the grid interaction of a building's electricity consumption and generation is presented. It consists of the Grid Support Coefficients GSCabs and GSCrel . GSCabs "weights" the electricity consumption profile with a time-resolved reference quantity which expresses the availability of electricity in the public grid (here: stock electricity price, residual load, cumulative energy consumption or fraction of wind and PV in the electricity mix). GSCrel relates GSCabs to the worst and best achievable values on a scale of −100 to 100 in order to increase the comparability of the results. The new evaluation method is applied to analyze the electricity consumption and/or production of 52 different energy supply systems in buildings, where detailed monitoring data are available. These examples include twelve heat pumps or chillers in office buildings, 38 heat pumps in residential buildings and two combined heat and power units (CHP) in multi-family buildings, all located in Germany. The in-depth analysis shows that the analyzed present-day buildings predominantly consume electricity at times with a low or average electricity availability. Optimal scheduling of all heat pumps could flatten the residual load significantly. In order to achieve this, thermal storages several times larger than the ones currently installed would be required.