Operation and energy flexibility evaluation of direct load controlled buildings equipped with heat pumps
ELSEVIER, Energy and Buildings, 111484, September 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111484
Authors: Gerard Mora ; Jordi Ciprianoa ; B. Grillonea ; F. Amblardb ; R. Parakkal Menonc ; J. Pageb ; M. Brennenstuhld ; D. Pietruschkad ; R. Baumere ; U. Eickerc
a Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics a l’Enginyeria, Building Energy and Environment Group, CIMNE BEE Group
b Hes-So Valais-Wallis, Route du Rawyl 47, Sion 1950, Switzerland
c Next Generation Cities Institute, Concordia University, 1455 Boulevard de Maisonneuve O., EV-6.111, Montreal H3G 1M8, Canada
d Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, Schellingstrabe 24, Stuttgart 70174, Germany
e Centrica Business Solutions Belgium NV, Roderveldlaan 2/b2, Antwerp 2600, Belgium
Abstract:
To date, the assessment of the energy flexibility to be delivered by existing buildings and by their legacy HVAC systems is hindered by a lack of commonly agreed-upon methodologies. There are many research works in the field; however, many of them are focused on the design stage or, in case of addressing building operation, they are based on controlled experimental set-ups. The novelty of this paper lies in the fact that it develops and validates an original methodology for the Flexibility Function estimation to evaluate the delivered energy flexibility of several Automated Demand Response services applied on different heat pump systems working under real operations. The active interaction with several electricity markets, ranging from the Spanish day-ahead market to the German and Swiss ancillary services markets, have also been evaluated during the winter and spring seasons.
The method results showed that heat pumps could offer a significant potential of flexibility in the analysed countries. Nevertheless, it has also been envisaged that some restrictions concerning reaction times and reliability may affect its readiness for certain ancillary services markets.
