IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i9p7494-d1138516.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Promoting the Flexibility of Thermal Prosumers Equipped with Heat Pumps to Support Power Grid Management

Author

Listed:
  • Giuseppe Edoardo Dino

    (Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
    CNR ITAE, Salita S. Lucia sopra Contesse 5, 98126 Messina, Italy)

  • Pietro Catrini

    (Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Valeria Palomba

    (CNR ITAE, Salita S. Lucia sopra Contesse 5, 98126 Messina, Italy)

  • Andrea Frazzica

    (CNR ITAE, Salita S. Lucia sopra Contesse 5, 98126 Messina, Italy)

  • Antonio Piacentino

    (Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

Abstract

The increasing share of renewable energy sources in energy systems will lead to unpredictable moments of surplus/deficit in energy production. To address this issue, users with heat pumps can provide support to power grid operators through flexible unit operation achieved via Demand Response programs. For buildings connected to low-temperature heating networks with ensured third-party access, further room for flexibility can be explored by investigating the production of surplus heat that can be sold to the network. A key aspect lies in the identification of the energy pricing options that could encourage such flexible operation of a heat pump by “thermal prosumers”. To this aim, the present study investigates the impact of ad hoc variations in the electricity purchasing price through discounts or penalties included in the “network cost” component of the price on cost-effective operation of a heat pump connected to the thermal network. To discuss the effects of different pricing options in terms of increased flexibility, an office building located in Italy and equipped with a high-temperature heat pump is adopted as the case study. A heuristic profit-oriented management strategy of the heat pump is assumed, and dynamic simulations are performed. The results indicate that at current electricity prices, the heat pump operation is profitable both when supplying the heat to meet the building’s requirements and when producing surplus heat for sale to the thermal network. In addition, it is revealed that the penalties applied to the electricity purchasing price are effective in encouraging changes in the heat pump operation strategy, reducing its average production (the building increasingly relying on buying heat from the network) and the associated electricity consumption by 46.0% and 79.7% in the “light” and “severe” local power deficit scenarios, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Giuseppe Edoardo Dino & Pietro Catrini & Valeria Palomba & Andrea Frazzica & Antonio Piacentino, 2023. "Promoting the Flexibility of Thermal Prosumers Equipped with Heat Pumps to Support Power Grid Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7494-:d:1138516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7494/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7494/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bartolini, Andrea & Carducci, Francesco & Muñoz, Carlos Boigues & Comodi, Gabriele, 2020. "Energy storage and multi energy systems in local energy communities with high renewable energy penetration," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 595-609.
    2. Simone Buffa & Anton Soppelsa & Mauro Pipiciello & Gregor Henze & Roberto Fedrizzi, 2020. "Fifth-Generation District Heating and Cooling Substations: Demand Response with Artificial Neural Network-Based Model Predictive Control," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-25, August.
    3. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Andersen, Anders N., 2021. "Variable taxes promoting district heating heat pump flexibility," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    4. Michael Krug & Maria Rosaria Di Nucci & Matteo Caldera & Elena De Luca, 2022. "Mainstreaming Community Energy: Is the Renewable Energy Directive a Driver for Renewable Energy Communities in Germany and Italy?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-24, June.
    5. Bürger, Veit & Steinbach, Jan & Kranzl, Lukas & Müller, Andreas, 2019. "Third party access to district heating systems - Challenges for the practical implementation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 881-892.
    6. Zhang, Lingxi & Good, Nicholas & Mancarella, Pierluigi, 2019. "Building-to-grid flexibility: Modelling and assessment metrics for residential demand response from heat pump aggregations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 709-723.
    7. Nord, Natasa & Shakerin, Mohammad & Tereshchenko, Tymofii & Verda, Vittorio & Borchiellini, Romano, 2021. "Data informed physical models for district heating grids with distributed heat sources to understand thermal and hydraulic aspects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    8. Tina, Giuseppe Marco & Aneli, Stefano & Gagliano, Antonio, 2022. "Technical and economic analysis of the provision of ancillary services through the flexibility of HVAC system in shopping centers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    9. Lorenzo Bartolucci & Stefano Cordiner & Vincenzo Mulone & Marina Santarelli, 2019. "Ancillary Services Provided by Hybrid Residential Renewable Energy Systems through Thermal and Electrochemical Storage Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Le Dréau, J. & Heiselberg, P., 2016. "Energy flexibility of residential buildings using short term heat storage in the thermal mass," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 991-1002.
    11. Kebede, Abraham Alem & Kalogiannis, Theodoros & Van Mierlo, Joeri & Berecibar, Maitane, 2022. "A comprehensive review of stationary energy storage devices for large scale renewable energy sources grid integration," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Pipiciello, Mauro & Caldera, Matteo & Cozzini, Marco & Ancona, Maria A. & Melino, Francesco & Di Pietra, Biagio, 2021. "Experimental characterization of a prototype of bidirectional substation for district heating with thermal prosumers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    13. Meesenburg, Wiebke & Ommen, Torben & Elmegaard, Brian, 2018. "Dynamic exergoeconomic analysis of a heat pump system used for ancillary services in an integrated energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 154-165.
    14. Gjorgievski, Vladimir Z. & Markovska, Natasa & Abazi, Alajdin & Duić, Neven, 2021. "The potential of power-to-heat demand response to improve the flexibility of the energy system: An empirical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    15. Lund, Henrik, 2018. "Renewable heating strategies and their consequences for storage and grid infrastructures comparing a smart grid to a smart energy systems approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 94-102.
    16. Barco-Burgos, J. & Bruno, J.C. & Eicker, U. & Saldaña-Robles, A.L. & Alcántar-Camarena, V., 2022. "Review on the integration of high-temperature heat pumps in district heating and cooling networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PE).
    17. Bloess, Andreas & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Zerrahn, Alexander, 2018. "Power-to-heat for renewable energy integration: A review of technologies, modeling approaches, and flexibility potentials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1611-1626.
    18. Bloess, Andreas & Schill, Wolf-Peter & Zerrahn, Alexander, 2018. "Power-to-heat for renewable energy integration: A review of technologies, modeling approaches, and flexibility potentials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1611-1626.
    19. Ismail Ibrahim & Cathal O’Loughlin & Terence O’Donnell, 2020. "Virtual Inertia Control of Variable Speed Heat Pumps for the Provision of Frequency Support," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    20. Alessia Arteconi & Fabio Polonara, 2018. "Assessing the Demand Side Management Potential and the Energy Flexibility of Heat Pumps in Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, July.
    21. Francesca Ceglia & Elisa Marrasso & Samiran Samanta & Maurizio Sasso, 2022. "Addressing Energy Poverty in the Energy Community: Assessment of Energy, Environmental, Economic, and Social Benefits for an Italian Residential Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    22. Dino, Giuseppe E. & Palomba, Valeria & Nowak, Eliza & Frazzica, Andrea, 2021. "Experimental characterization of an innovative hybrid thermal-electric chiller for industrial cooling and refrigeration application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    23. Zhengjie You & Michel Zade & Babu Kumaran Nalini & Peter Tzscheutschler, 2021. "Flexibility Estimation of Residential Heat Pumps under Heat Demand Uncertainty," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-19, September.
    24. Gross, Michel & Karbasi, Babak & Reiners, Tobias & Altieri, Lisa & Wagner, Hermann-Josef & Bertsch, Valentin, 2021. "Implementing prosumers into heating networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    25. Meesenburg, Wiebke & Markussen, Wiebke Brix & Ommen, Torben & Elmegaard, Brian, 2020. "Optimizing control of two-stage ammonia heat pump for fast regulation of power uptake," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    26. Thellufsen, J.Z. & Lund, H. & Sorknæs, P. & Østergaard, P.A. & Chang, M. & Drysdale, D. & Nielsen, S. & Djørup, S.R. & Sperling, K., 2020. "Smart energy cities in a 100% renewable energy context," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    27. Dominković, Dominik Franjo & Wahlroos, Mikko & Syri, Sanna & Pedersen, Allan Schrøder, 2018. "Influence of different technologies on dynamic pricing in district heating systems: Comparative case studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 136-148.
    28. Guelpa, Elisa & Bischi, Aldo & Verda, Vittorio & Chertkov, Michael & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Towards future infrastructures for sustainable multi-energy systems: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 2-21.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Østergaard, P.A. & Lund, H. & Thellufsen, J.Z. & Sorknæs, P. & Mathiesen, B.V., 2022. "Review and validation of EnergyPLAN," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Guo, Yurun & Wang, Shugang & Wang, Jihong & Zhang, Tengfei & Ma, Zhenjun & Jiang, Shuang, 2024. "Key district heating technologies for building energy flexibility: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    3. Dhirendran Munith Kumar & Pietro Catrini & Antonio Piacentino & Maurizio Cirrincione, 2023. "Integrated Thermodynamic and Control Modeling of an Air-to-Water Heat Pump for Estimating Energy-Saving Potential and Flexibility in the Building Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-23, May.
    4. Javanshir, Nima & Syri, Sanna & Tervo, Seela & Rosin, Argo, 2023. "Operation of district heat network in electricity and balancing markets with the power-to-heat sector coupling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    5. Osorio-Aravena, Juan Carlos & Aghahosseini, Arman & Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Caldera, Upeksha & Ghorbani, Narges & Mensah, Theophilus Nii Odai & Haas, Jannik & Muñoz-Cerón, Emilio & Breyer, Christian, 2023. "Synergies of electrical and sectoral integration: Analysing geographical multi-node scenarios with sector coupling variations for a transition towards a fully renewables-based energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    6. Fridgen, Gilbert & Keller, Robert & Körner, Marc-Fabian & Schöpf, Michael, 2020. "A holistic view on sector coupling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    7. Boldrini, A. & Jiménez Navarro, J.P. & Crijns-Graus, W.H.J. & van den Broek, M.A., 2022. "The role of district heating systems to provide balancing services in the European Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Abugabbara, Marwan & Lindhe, Jonas & Javed, Saqib & Johansson, Dennis & Claesson, Johan, 2024. "Comparative study and validation of a new analytical method for hydraulic modelling of bidirectional low temperature networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    9. Omais Abdur Rehman & Valeria Palomba & Andrea Frazzica & Luisa F. Cabeza, 2021. "Enabling Technologies for Sector Coupling: A Review on the Role of Heat Pumps and Thermal Energy Storage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-30, December.
    10. Dino, Giuseppe Edoardo & Catrini, Pietro & Buscemi, Alessandro & Piacentino, Antonio & Palomba, Valeria & Frazzica, Andrea, 2023. "Modeling of a bidirectional substation in a district heating network: Validation, dynamic analysis, and application to a solar prosumer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    11. Sihvonen, Ville & Ollila, Iisa & Jaanto, Jasmin & Grönman, Aki & Honkapuro, Samuli & Riikonen, Juhani & Price, Alisdair, 2024. "Role of power-to-heat and thermal energy storage in decarbonization of district heating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    12. Guelpa, Elisa & Bischi, Aldo & Verda, Vittorio & Chertkov, Michael & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Towards future infrastructures for sustainable multi-energy systems: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 2-21.
    13. Zhao, Yongliang & Song, Jian & Liu, Ming & Zhao, Yao & Olympios, Andreas V. & Sapin, Paul & Yan, Junjie & Markides, Christos N., 2022. "Thermo-economic assessments of pumped-thermal electricity storage systems employing sensible heat storage materials," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 431-456.
    14. Florin Iov & Mahmood Khatibi & Jan Dimon Bendtsen, 2020. "On the Participation of Power-To-Heat Assets in Frequency Regulation Markets—A Danish Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-22, September.
    15. Li, Han & Johra, Hicham & de Andrade Pereira, Flavia & Hong, Tianzhen & Le Dréau, Jérôme & Maturo, Anthony & Wei, Mingjun & Liu, Yapan & Saberi-Derakhtenjani, Ali & Nagy, Zoltan & Marszal-Pomianowska,, 2023. "Data-driven key performance indicators and datasets for building energy flexibility: A review and perspectives," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    16. Calderón, Carlos & Underwood, Chris & Yi, Jialiang & Mcloughlin, Adrian & Williams, Brian, 2019. "An area-based modelling approach for planning heating electrification," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 262-280.
    17. Zhang, Menglin & Wu, Qiuwei & Wen, Jinyu & Zhou, Bo & Guan, Qinyue & Tan, Jin & Lin, Zhongwei & Fang, Fang, 2022. "Day-ahead stochastic scheduling of integrated electricity and heat system considering reserve provision by large-scale heat pumps," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    18. Fodstad, Marte & Crespo del Granado, Pedro & Hellemo, Lars & Knudsen, Brage Rugstad & Pisciella, Paolo & Silvast, Antti & Bordin, Chiara & Schmidt, Sarah & Straus, Julian, 2022. "Next frontiers in energy system modelling: A review on challenges and the state of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    19. Chi, Lixun & Su, Huai & Zio, Enrico & Qadrdan, Meysam & Zhou, Jing & Zhang, Li & Fan, Lin & Yang, Zhaoming & Xie, Fei & Zuo, Lili & Zhang, Jinjun, 2023. "A systematic framework for the assessment of the reliability of energy supply in Integrated Energy Systems based on a quasi-steady-state model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PB).
    20. Canet, Alexandre & Qadrdan, Meysam, 2023. "Quantification of flexibility from the thermal mass of residential buildings in England and Wales," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7494-:d:1138516. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.