Demand response management by means of heat pumps controlled via real time pricing

The increased generation of electricity from renewable energy sources may imply issues in the management of national electric systems, due to the low predictability of electricity generation from renewable energy sources. In this regard, interesting opportunities come from the use of advanced control strategies for the management of electric devices such as heat pumps, able to exploit dynamic electricity prices aimed to induce users to absorb/generate electricity according with the electricity grid imbalance. In this paper, the results of building energy simulations applying tailored heat pump control strategies suitable for the integration within smart grids are presented. In particular, three heat pump control strategies are applied, whose action is based on the cost of electricity (absolute and relative to the following 12 h) and on the level of the local electricity generation from photovoltaics. The analyzed control strategies ensure relevant money savings (up to 30%) and increase the degree of energy self-consumption (up to 12% for exported electricity and 22% for imported electricity). The analysis considers also comfort issues and shows that the best results may be achieved commanding the heat pump basing on the generation of the photovoltaic system as well as on the simultaneous heating/cooling loads and electricity prices