Homes for flexibility

This project will investigate possibilities for demand side response of heating and domestic hot water production in homes with electrical heaters and heat pumps. This will be done by field tests of load control in dwellings in order to compare pre-programmed and real-time control, both through measurements and interviews. The project will create an arena for dialogue between different stakeholders, study how well the house's available flexibility matches the grids needs and look at possible business arrangements.

The control of heat loads in homes is one of the loads that is foreseen to have the large potential for demand side response as the thermal inertia of the buildings allows the heating to be paused without any significant temperature drop. The project is foreseen to give a clearer view of the possibilities of homes to realize flexibility to the grid from technological, potential, usefulness and economic and commercial aspects.

Aims

The project has the following aims:

1. Implement and evaluate control of heat loads in electrically heated homes (villas, townhouses and smaller multi-family houses). Pre-programmed control is compared with real-time control with the aim of quantifying the flexibility potential (both in size and in time) and degree of complexity during implementation. (AP1)
2. Examine incentives (financial or other) and acceptance for residents and homeowners to provide demand side flexibility as well as identified social key factors for a successful dissemination and upscaling of technology solutions to other households. (AP2)
3. Quantitative estimate of the co-storage effect for a number of homes within a common low-voltage area and how well the variations in the homes' available flexibility correlate with the needs in the network. (AP3)
4. Estimate the benefits for network owners and the costs of heat load control. (AP3)
5. Investigate, compare and evaluate possible business approaches for flexibility in existing real-time markets. Investigate new business arrangements between end customers and local network owners for the solution with smart timers and how they would need to be built. Business layouts for real-time control are compared with layouts for smart timers. (AP3)

Implementation

The work within the project is divided into the following working packages (AP):

AP1 Pilots in homes

In AP1, active heat load control is implemented in 10-12 homes with different types of heat pumps and direct electricity as the primary heat source. Two main pilots have been identified in Lund (Apartments / townhouses in brf Solbyn, air / air heat pumps in combination with direct electric heating and hot water heaters) and Borås (RISE research villa, supplemented by privately owned villas, heat pumps with built-in domestic hot water production and water-borne heating system). The conditions in the two pilots differ, which means that partly different technical solutions and control strategies are expected.

AP2 Incentives for residents and homeowners

AP2 examines residents and homeowners experiences of offering their demand side flexibility during the pilot study, as well as their incentives (financial or other) and acceptance to provide demand side flexibility in the future. The work package also aims to identify key social factors for a successful upscaling of the technology solutions to other households.

AP3 Demand response of heating in its context

AP3 puts demand response of heating in homes in a larger context. The work package identifies possible system services that may be relevant and it is estimated how much flexibility there is from the homes when the electricity system needs it.

AP4 Project management and dissemination of results

Communication activities such as articles and external workshops to present results from the project.