Heat pumps in multi-family buildings used as a flexibility resource for balancing frequency and congestion management

Abstract

The increase of renewable energy and higher power demand from new loads places a higher pressure on the ability to be flexible in the generation and demand of electricity. Different ancillary and flexibility services have arisen to meet the need of power flexibility in the consumption to ensure a high electricity security. Demand response solutions can be found among those services. Heat pumps in multi-family buildings have been recognized as a potential demand response solution. Two possible opportunities for using heat pump flexibility as demand response are discussed in this paper. A balance responsibility party can utilize the flexibility to trade at different balance markets for financial purposes, and a distribution system operator can utilize the flexibility to manage congestion in local grids. The results show that the benefits of steering flexible loads are depended on coordination between the actors and on the ability of smart steering. When one actor uses demand response, it can result in negative effects for the other actor. A holistic approach must therefore be taken when developing a market for demand response to ensure that the solution do not cause larger problems than it is trying to solve.