Strategies to ease US grid strain as electric heat pumps boost renewables

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From pv magazine USA

Heating more buildings with electric heat pumps can provide a larger market for renewable energy.

While heat pump adoption in building electrification “gets a lot of attention” from utilities, there’s little guidance for grid planners on immediate actions, said Sean Morash, author of “Grid Planning for Building Electrification,” a new ESIG report.

Several technologies can aid the transition, including building insulation and weatherization, cold climate heat pumps, thermal energy storage systems, and higher-voltage distribution grids. The report also discusses grid planning needs.

The report highlights technology solutions as essential, because most US buildings currently rely on fossil fuels for heating. Building energy use is expected to transition from fossil fuels to electricity over the next few decades, including in US regions like the Southeast and Northwest, where electric heating is already widespread.

As buildings electrify, areas with peak electricity demand in the summer could shift to having peak demand in the winter.

Higher peak demand for grid infrastructure may be seen “especially at the distribution level” said Debra Lew, ESIG’s executive director. Yet improving building energy efficiency through insulation and weatherization “may help mitigate and even reverse increases in peak demand, highlighting the need to take a holistic view.”

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