Domestic heat pumps as part of demand-side management in smart grids

Resumen

Domestic compression heat pumps that are used for climatization and production of DHW, are among the technologies that have the potential to pursue the climatic objectives set by the European Union. Since they make use of electricity as their activation energy, and provided that the share of renewable energies will grow in the following years, heat pumps will very likely play an important part in the decarbonisation process of the domestic sector. Also because of the growth of renewable energy sources and the atomisation of the production, the electrical grid faces challenges that have become more evident in recent years. Smart grids have been proposed as part of the solution for these issues. These grids are highly interconnected grids that consider production, distribution and consumption of electrical energy to optimise the overall performance by making use of new technologies. As part of demand-side management techniques, heat pumps can offer flexibility to this enhanced electrical grid. Due to the existence of thermal inertias (water tanks and/or the building itself), there may be a decoupling between electricity consumption and thermal demand. The grid can take advantage of this phenomena and influence their electrical consumption. This management can be carried out in different ways. The grid can provide information and the heat pumps may vary their performance by optimising some parameter. The optimization objective would normally be related to economic aspects. In a more straightforward approach, the smart grid could tell the heat pump directly how its functioning should be. Then, the machine would try to follow these orders. An example of this approach would be Smart Grid Ready Heat Pumps initiative. The most advanced strategy would be a management in which all actors negotiate with each other to obtain an overall optimized working point. In this document, the presented concepts are elaborated, focusing on the hypothetical impact that the user may suffer and the performance of the heat pump.