Demand Flexibility Enabled by Virtual Energy Storage to Improve Renewable Energy Penetration

Abstract

The increasing resort to renewable energy distributed generation, which is needed to mitigate anthropogenic CO2 emissions, leads to challenges concerning the proper operation of electric distribution systems. As a result of the intrinsic nature of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs), this generation shows a high volatility and a low predictability that make the balancing of energy production and consumption difficult. At the same time, the electrification of new energy-intensive sectors (such as heating) is expected. This complex scenario paves the way for new sources of flexibility that will have more and more relevance in the coming years. This paper analyses how the electrification of the heating system, combined with an electric flexibility utilisation module, can be used to mitigate the problems related to the fluctuating production of RES. By using Power-to-Heat (P2H) technologies, buildings are able to store the overproduction of RES in the form of thermal energy for end-use according to the principle of the so-called Virtual Energy Storage (VES). A context-aware demand flexibility extraction based on the VES model and the flexibility upscale and utilisation on district-level through grid simulation and energy flow optimisation is presented in the paper. The involved modules have been developed within the PLANET (PLAnning and operational tools for optimising energy flows and synergies between energy NETworks) H2020 European project and interact under a unified co-simulation framework with the PLANET Decision Support System (DSS) for the analysis of multi-energy scenarios. DSS has been used to simulate a realistic future energy scenario, according to which the imbalance problems triggered by RES overproduction are mitigated with the optimal exploitation of the demand flexibility enabled by VES.

Regional power system balance with the consideration of uncertain new energy output: evidence from Jiangsu

“…From the analysis, it can be inferred that energy storage plays a crucial role in mitigating the impact of renewable energy variability and enhancing the stability of the power system. Effective energy storage can bridge the gap between supply and demand [6] .…”

Evaluation of methods for determining energy flexibility of buildings

“…As indicated in Table 2, most of the metrics analyzed are concerned with technical and economic performance, but a few are concerned with social performance, particularly the effects on the internal environment comfort. The technical performance indicators presented in [55] and [62] aim to describe the degree of utilization of on-site energy generation in relation to local energy demand, and can be referred to as load match indicators and 𝑃𝐸 grid [68] shows the interaction with the distribution grid and can be considered a grid interaction indicator. Time, in the form of duration and capacity is investigated in fewer research studies, whereas environmental performance is studied in only one case.…”

A Review on Thermal Energy Modelling for Optimal Microgrids Management

“…Residential refrigerators are modelled analogously to energy capacity and self-discharge of electro-chemical batteries using the artificial neural network based kWh modelling [57]. Reference [58] analyzed the demand flexibility realized by virtual energy storage, which couples the building level power to thermal energy conversion systems installed in residential and commercial buildings to transfer the inherent flexibility of thermal energy demand to the power sector. An optimal scheduling strategy of building-integrated photovoltaic microgrids, considering virtual energy storage, was proposed to further improve the operation economy of building integrated photovoltaic microgrids [59][60][61].…”