Evaluating the cost of line capacity limitations in aggregations of commercial buildings

The trend towards electrification of the heating sector in many cases leads to the replacement of fossil-fueled heating systems with electric heat pumps. This may result to significantly higher consumption and potentially violations of the distribution grid operational limits. We propose a day-ahead optimization strategy to assess the cost of imposing capacity limitations in the total consumption of individual buildings, as well as aggregations of buildings. We show that such capacity limitations lead to an increase for the buildings operational costs, which can be interpreted as the value of these limitations. Based on such calculations, the aggregator can value capacity-limitation services to the distribution system operator. Moreover, the value of aggregation is also highlighted, since it leads to lower costs than imposing the same total capacity limitation on individual buildings.