Energy flexible buildings: A methodology for rating the flexibility performance of buildings with electric heating and cooling systems (original) (raw)
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Design Optimization of Energy Flexibility for Residential Buildings
Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA, 2020
Due to its progressive aging, the need to plan a long-term renovation strategy for the European building stock is increasingly urgent. Furthermore, the growing penetration of discontinuous and non-programmable renewable energy sources asks for an adaptable demand to the supply variability. Thus, the realization of new buildings which are both efficient and energy flexible can be a way to increase reliability and security of the current energy grid. Purpose of this work is to characterize the effect of different buildings renovation strategies on their energy flexibility performance obtained through electric heating energy demand management. The energy flexibility is quantified by means of a single indicator: the Flexibility Performance Indicator. As the Energy Performance Certificate, it is calculated with a standardized procedure. In this work, starting from a low energy performance reference building, the energy flexibility performance obtainable with different energy efficiency interventions is assessed. Eventually the extent of the requested investment combined with the potential electricity costs saving derived from it is evaluated.
Design energy flexibility for Italian residential buildings
2018
Having energy flexible buildings is a very important aspect to enable the application of smart demand side management strategies (DSM). DSM is getting more and more relevance in energy systems planning and operation due to the overall increasing energy demand. An energy flexible building is intended to be able to change, in a planned manner, the shape of its energy demand curve, electrical and thermal, while the comfort of the end-users is still guaranteed. The objective of this study is to develop a methodology that allows to classify buildings according to their potential to provide energy flexibility on the basis of their design features. Similarly to the energy performance label, this methodology aims to be a means to extend the energetic characterization of a building also to its energy demand management ability. In this paper the thermal energy demand of buildings (supplied by electrically driven devices, e.g. heat pumps) is mainly taken into account. A quantification method i...
Evaluation of methods for determining energy flexibility of buildings
Green Energy and Sustainability
The high rate of penetration of renewable energy sources leads to challenges in planning and controlling the production, transmission and distribution of energy. A possible solution lies within the change from traditional supply side management to demand side management. Buildings are good candidates for implementing a demand response model since they account for around 39% of global final energy use and are stably connected to all infrastructure networks. As a result, employing buildings as "players" in energy networks is considered now more than ever compelling. Recently, significant improvement has been denoted in the thermal efficiency of the building shell and the energy efficiency of the HVAC systems in new and renovated buildings. However, despite the reduction in energy demand regarding the space conditioning, buildings continue to be passive end users of the energy system. In order to ensure that they are capable of providing the necessary energy flexibility to ba...
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2020
Demand response can enable residential consumers to take advantage of control signals and/or financial incentives to adjust the use of their resources at strategic times. These resources usually refer to energy consumption, locally distributed electricity generation, and energy storage. The building structural mass has an inherent potential either to modify consumption or to be used as a storage medium. In this paper, the energy flexibility potential of a residential building thermal mass for the winter design day is investigated. Various active demand response strategies are assessed using two flexibility indicators: the storage efficiency and storage capacity. Using simulation, it is shown that the available capacity and efficiency associated with active demand response actions depend on thermostat setpoint modulation, demand response event duration, heating system rated power and current consumption.
Towards standardising market-independent indicators for quantifying energy flexibility in buildings
Energy and Buildings, 2020
Buildings are increasingly being seen as a potential source of energy flexibility to the smart grid as a form of demand side management. Indicators are required to quantify the energy flexibility available from buildings, enabling a basis for a contractual framework between the relevant stakeholders such as end users, aggregators and grid operators. In the literature, there is a lack of consensus and standardisation in terms of approaches and indicators for quantifying energy flexibility. In the present paper, current approaches are reviewed and the most recent and relevant market independent indicators are compared through analysis of four different case studies comprising varying building types, climates and control schemes to assess their robustness and applicability. Of the indicators compared, certain indicators are found to be more suitable for use by the end user when considering energy and carbon dioxide emission reductions. Other indicators are more useful for the grid operator. The recommended indicators are found to be robust to different demand response contexts, such as type of energy flexibility, control scheme, climate and building types. They capture the provided flexibility quantity, its shifting efficiency and rebound effect. A final cost index is also recommended given specific market conditions to capture the cost of a building providing energy flexibility.
Applied Sciences
The EU energy and climate policy has set quantitative goals for decarbonization based on the energy efficiency and the evolution of energy systems. The utilization of demand side flexibility can help towards this direction and achieve the target of higher levels of penetration in regard to intermittent renewable energy production and carbon emission reduction. This paper presents a simulation-based assessment of thermal flexibility in a typical office building in Greece, which is a representative Mediterranean country. The use of variable speed heat pumps coupled with hydronic terminal units was evaluated. The research focused mainly on the evaluation of energy flexibility offered by energy stored in the form of thermal energy by utilizing the building’s thermal mass. The demand response potential under hourly CO2eq intensity and energy prices was investigated. The flexibility potential was evaluated under different demand response strategies, and the effect of demand response on en...
Representation of daily profiles of building energy flexibility
2018
The representation of simulation results with regards to building energy flexibility is investigated. The chosen case study is a residential flat located in Spain, equipped with an air-to-water heat pump. From a reference simulation scenario, active demand response (ADR) events are implemented; they consist in modulating the heating set-point for a few hours. If the starting time of the ADR event is varied in time, the resulting simulations enable to produce daily profiles quantifying the different aspects of energy flexibility. Different representations of these profiles are proposed and discussed, combining the flexibility capacity and efficiency profiles, or representing different ADR configurations in a single graph. A high dependency of the flexibility profiles was observed with regards to the existing consumption profile and temperature setbacks. An ADR event of 2 hours with set-point modulation of ±1°C provides a maximum flexibility capacity of 9.4kWh upwards and -8.6kWh down...
Aggregation of Energy Flexibility of Commercial Buildings
2018
Commercial buildings are increasingly utilised for providing demand side management due to their inherent thermal inertia and use of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems. For a given demand response event, the question arises for the building manager or demand response controller on how to optimally provide flexibility, given different efficiencies and associated costs with each strategy. Current approaches often focus only on individual strategies as opposed to total available flexibility. This paper examines various demand response strategies simulated in a case study commercial building using an EnergyPlus model for the summer design day. Modified indicators are proposed for the available electrical energy flexibility and associated efficiency and daily profiles are created for the individual strategies. The total energy flexibility is calculated as a daily profile and the results show that the building was found to provide close to 1000 kWh energy flexibility at its...