Self-consumption through power-to-heat and storage for enhanced PV integration in decentralised energy systems

Abstract

Many countries have adopted schemes to promote investments into renewable energy sources resulting, amongst others, in a high penetration of solar PV energy. The system integration of the increasing amount of variable electricity generation is therefore a highly important task. This paper focuses on a residential quarter with PV systems and explores how heat pumps and thermal and electrical storages can help to integrate the PV generation through self-consumption. However, self-consumption and PV integration are not only affected by technologies but also by pricing mechanisms. This paper therefore analyses the impact of different tariffs on the investment and operation decisions in a residential quarter and its interaction with the external grid. The considered tariffs include a standard fixed perkilowatt-hour price, a dynamic pricing scheme and a capacity pricing scheme. To account for the interdependent uncertainties of energy supply, demand and electricity prices, we use a module-based framework including a Markov process and a two-stage stochastic mixedinteger program. Analysing a residential quarter in Southern Germany as a case study, we find that the integration of a PV system is economically advantageous for all considered tariffs. The self-consumption rate varies between 58 − 75%. The largest PV system is built when dynamic prices are applied. However, the peak load from the external grid increases by a factor of two under this tariff without any incentive for reduction. In contrast, capacity pricing results in a reduction of the peak load by up to 35%.

Evaluating consumer investments in distributed energy technologies

“…Cost-benefit studies (e.g. Li et al, 2019;Ross, 2018;Schwarz et al, 2018) do not directly account for short-and long-run changes in the price of electricity for consumers, i.e. households and commercial/industrial end users, who ultimately pay the price either dynamically or through monthly or quarterly updated tariffs.…”

“…When considering NPV, we do not employ an electricity system model and simply assume that average electricity retail prices increase by 5% per year. This is based on a general practice in most studies evaluating technology profitability, such as Braun et al (2009); Kaldellis et al (2009); (Lyon, 2016;Ross, 2018;Schwarz et al, 2018). Hence, the main difference between SNPV and NPV in our analysis is that the price of electricity for SNPV is endogenous, i.e.…”

Evaluation of electricity storage versus thermal storage as part of two different energy planning approaches for the islands Samsø and Orkney

“…Contrary to proposing BESS for wind power curtailment, Jin et al suggest a better wind power utilization by implementing TES [22]. Even for PV-based power production, TES prove profitable over BESS due to the lower investment costs [23].…”

Integration of a Photovoltaic System with an Electric Heat Pump and Electrical Energy Storage Serving an Office Building

“…Schwarz et al [12] focused their attention on a residential quarter located in Southern Germany with a PV-based system (36-73 kW). The authors evaluate how electric heat pumps as well as thermal and electrical energy storages can improve on-site use of PV electricity.…”