KEY RESULTS OF THE PROJECT ‘POWER-TO-HEAT IN SMART GRIDS’– A MULTI-OBJECTIVE APPROACH FOR A MAXIMIZED VALUE OF FLEXIBILITIES IN GRIDS

Abstract

Decentralized demand side response (DSR) applications are getting increasingly attractive for balancing and stabilizing the increasingly strained grids due to the increasing share of fluctuating renewables feed-in. One possible use case is to exploit DSR applications such as power-to-heat (PtH) assets as flexibility for grid usage to avoid/defer conventional grid reinforcements and to effectively integrate decentralized renewables and active prosumers in the future. The economics of the PtH asset operation can be improved substantially if a multi-use approach is realized. These approaches consider local grid-oriented usage in certain times of grid restrictions, e.g. due to fluctuating wind feed-in whereas system- or market-oriented usage could be applied in non-critical time periods. Real-world projects such as the R&D project ‘Power-to-Heat in Smart Grids’ are needed to show that multi-use approaches are technically feasible and impact the economics of the asset significantly. Besides results of an economic project study, the regulatory discussion highlighting possible future changes of the regulatory framework is also a main aspect of this paper.