Integration of heat demand and demand response in power systems to cover the flexibility requirements linked to high shares of variable renewable energy

Abstract

Increasing the share of renewable energy generation in the generation mix is one of European's objectives. Increasing renewable generation sources complicates the power grid management. In particular, the variability of such energy sources increases the complexity of maintaining the demand-supply balance. More flexibility is needed. The goal of this master thesis is to assess the potential of residential heating demand management to meet the flexibility needs linked to high shares in renewable generation. To that end, a heat demand model is developed and coupled to an existing unit commitment and dispatch model of the power system. The residential heating demand considered consists in the space heating demand and the domestic hot water demand and is coupled to the power system through flexible electric heating devices (heat pumps and domestic hot water heaters). Several simulations are performed for Belgium. The potential benefits in 2015 are assessed. Then a parametric analysis is performed assessing the influence of the flexible devices penetration, the renewable capacity and the flexibility of the capacity mix. Results show operational cost benefits up to 35M€ and curtailment reduction up to 1 TWh with 1 million flexible electric heating systems. These benefits are reduced significantly when non-flexible units are replaced by flexible units and are increased when more renewable capacity is added. Moreover, when the number of flexible heating systems are increased, a saturation effect of the flexibility is observed.

In conclusion, the heat demand is able to provide non-negligible flexibility to the power system through flexible electric heating devices. The benefits due to the additional flexibility are increased when the flexibility need of the system increases and especially when more renewable energy is available. Results show that non negligible curtailed energy can be captured by the thermal storage when high shares of renewable capacity exist.