Heat pumps associated with thermal energy storages to improve network utilization and flexibility: the case of Chrysa Xanthi, Greece

Electric heating devices, in particular heat pumps, are a popular way of providing heat for space heating and domestic hot water. From the perspective of electricity network, heat pumps can be considered as a relatively large load, and the increasing number of heat pumps can put a strain on the existing infrastructure. However, heat pumps can also be considered as flexible loads that could improve the flexibility of the electricity network. Heat pumps alone can hardly provide any demand flexibility without affecting the comfort of occupants, but greater flexibility can be achieved by combining them with thermal energy storages (TES). In this paper, the flexibility potential provided by heat pumps has been assessed for the case of low voltage network of Chrysa Xanthi in Greece. Xanthi is one of the pilot sites in the Horizon 2020 project X-FLEX, aiming to maximize the integration of renewable energy sources (RES) and flexibility systems into the existing European network. For the purpose of this study, heat pumps together with photovoltaic (PV) generation were placed in a model of the existing network and cases where a large imbalance between generation and consumption occurs were studied. Additionally, TES was included in the heat pump demand model and the potential for increasing grid flexibility and improving the integration of RES was analysed.