The use of heat pumps and more flexible heating systems coupled to wind and power generation may be particularly beneficial for countries with serious grid congestion issues like the Netherlands.
This is the main conclusion of a recent report published by Dutch electricity transmission system operator (TSO) Tennet, in which its experts analyzed how the use of heat pumps and smarter heat networks may contribute to the creation of more flexible electricity demand, which would, in turn, have the twofold advantage of reducing fossil fuel consumption and not wasting surplus renewable energy generation during peak hours.
The Dutch high-voltage grid operator said that in hours with poor renewable energy production, part of the heating systems could be idled temporarily, and in hours with a lot of electricity from the sun and wind, the heat systems could be powered by these two sources to provide extra heating. “In 2030, this concept could already provide between 0.5 and 1 GW of temporary flexibility and, in order to achieve this, the heat pumps must be intelligently controlled,” Tennet explained.
The flexible demand created by this approach would help to level off peak loads during strong generation of wind and solar if the capacity of the electricity grid is in danger of being exceeded. “This flexibility is needed to make maximum use of variable solar and wind generation in hours of abundance, and to reduce electricity demand in hours without solar and wind electricity,” the authors of the report affirmed.
Flexible heat pumps would be key in this scenario as they can switch back temporarily, while a well-insulated building can remain sufficiently heated for a certain time. Furthermore, hybrid heat pumps that can be powered by both gas and renewables would also represent an optimal solution, as they can temporarily rely on the fuel in the event of electricity shortages. “This reduces the peak demand for electricity and keeps homes warm,” the report notes, adding that on days with abundant solar and wind power production, heating systems with heat storage may also save some sustainable heat to power the building the following day.
According to Tennet experts, this flexible electricity demand for heat would not only contribute to CO2 reduction by using the electricity as much as possible in hours with abundant wind and sun but also by utilizing it as little as possible in the hours with largely gas-fired electricity. “This helps to keep consumers' energy bills from being higher than necessary in the future,” they further explained. “This advantage can be achieved through a contract with flexible prices with the supplier or a discount when flexibility is made available.”
The report states that these benefits will be negligible in the near future, although they may become bigger by 2030 and will continue to grow when more and more electricity from solar and wind is produced.
Tennet and Viessmann, a German manufacturer of heating, industrial and refrigeration systems, are currently working on a joint pilot project to use the potential flexibility of heat pumps for congestion management in power grids. The ViFlex project is aimed at combining a three-digit number of heat pumps and electricity storage systems to form a virtual power plant. With this approach, the heat pumps are bundled in virtual power plants to absorb surplus electricity from renewables and relieve the power grid.
The project relies on Viessmann heat pumps that can be operated with 100 percent renewable electricity. “These heat pumps can work and fill the heat storage system when a lot of solar power comes from the roof or the wind is blowing strongly in Germany and there is a lot of wind power available in the grid,” Tennet explained.
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Awesome
I wouldn’t mind if the utility raised the temp. of my house to 27/29 degrees from 20 degrees , provided there was a reduction in kwh cost when this occurred. As I keep the set point at 20 deg. I don’t want them to reduce the power supplied. For a reduced rate, I would keep the set point at 23 deg. and allow it to cool to 20 deg.
There is no need to raise the house temperature.
You just put a buffer in between the heating unit (s) and divert excess electricity into water heating, to offset tomorrow’s gas.
As was said before, there two houses in the UK, a bungalow and a 6 bed house in London, that run this mechanism through solar diversion.
All that’s missing is the relay to turn the electricity on when the price goes down.
The algorithm’s fundamentally simple, and it can be written in 100 lines of c#. SMETS 2 meters already have an aux load mechanism.
Is it just me or is this piece devoid of actual information?
Super Exciting
The Dutch are famously prickly over the privacy of their data..Tennet can find expertise on these issues easily if it cares to look. Householders don’t want to hand over control of their homes to a remote utility, even a fairly benevolent state-owned one like Tennet. The legal framework has to be an arm’s-length regulated contract, with remotely triggered actions executed by prior consent. What we really need is an AI Jeeves at the door of our smart home, to defend our interests against Aunt Agatha.
It’s solvable without a remote utility being in control.
I’ve done all the work on this already, and it just involves a change in the pricing model, and a device that could be mass produced for 50 euros.
This system was prototyped in the UK. There are two houses with this mechanism, one has been running for about 4 years in a bungalow the North of England, and another larger house has been running for a year in South of England. The North of England bungalow, built in around 1978, averages a total house energy input per year of 4200 units, and it’s heat electric.
This mechanism is excellent, and it does work. It’s called demand side control by government, but the guy who did this called it something else.
The southern based 6 bed house, can mid-winter turn into an 6 kw continuous sink for excess wind power, and can take about 30kw for a few hours, and then spontaneously return to 600 watts average when necessary.
During the Summer months, from March to October because of the oversizing, the whole house averages about 12 units a day, this includes heating, baths for 5 people, etc, and 5 people all working at home due to Covid.
It works by oversizing the solar installation, and diverting excess electricity into over heating cylinders rather than exporting it. Everything’s stainless, copper, plastic or pex, and the cold water supply runs past all the potable sinks before it heads to the roof, runs through a pressure limiter before it branches to fill toilets. This means any toilet flush pulls fresh cold water past every sink.
It’s not installed yet, but the system can run automatically on over wind production, and is just waiting on a tariff and meter that supports a relay.
The only moving parts are pumps, and thermostats, all off the shelf, most running at 2 watts.
The key is to make sure you have meters that can measure not just how much electricity you use, but when. Sure heat pumps, but 14% of Eurpean car sales were BEV with substantial batteries, so they need to charge when there is plenty of renewables production.
This makes no sense. There are more efficient less expensive ways to accomplish.
I am from Canada in the eastern part of the country. We use Air to Air Pumps extensively with a backup that can either be propane, electric or other forms. The most popular types are the Air to Air Mini heat pumps that heat a single area and have a ratio of about 2 to 1 heat gain. As the temperature dips below -10 C the backup source is needed but overall these systems provide a substantial source of heat with a pay back period of about 7 years depending on the size of the house. The Air to Air systems in reverse also serve as a cooling system in the summer.
In my experience I’ve also used air to air well in the UK Angus.
I found through modelling that chaining reservoirs together using air 2 water, and heating them in one direction indirectly, but taking hot water from them in the opposite together to be a highly effective mechanism because it ensures the water returning to the heat pump to be quite cold until all reservoirs are hot.
It also allows just one or two small reservoirs to be heated with immersions, to kill legionella, this making it a good way of heating large amounts of water quite efficiently.
Flexible heat pumps ideal for power grids congested by solar and wind. According to its experts, intelligent control of heat pumps may result in the creation of between 0.5 and 1 GW of temporary grid flexibility by 2030.
You have really provided us a great tips. Thanks for sharing such a informative post.