Method to assess the load shifting potential by using buildings as a thermal storage

To enable a high share of renewables power producers with fluctuations over time in the electricity grid, balancing demand and response is one of the main features and challenges of the currently emerging smart grids. As buildings account for about 40% of the overall electricity use, with quite a lot being converted into thermal energy by the HVAC systems, controlling this energy conversion and storing the thermal energy is one possible approach for demand response. Therefore the thermal behaviour of a large number of buildings has to be estimated to be able to induce the electric behaviour desired by the grid operator. In this paper, a method for simplified building modelling is discussed and the results of an implementation for a homogenous sample group are provided. First results prove the feasibility of using buildings as active load shifting components in the electrical grid. Furthermore it was shown that the rebound effect caused by load rejection events of the buildings is considerable high and needs to be considered in the electrical grid in order to provide stable operation of the grid. The developed method therefore may be a valuable tool for grid operators.