Load shifting and peak shaving in apartment buildings based om spot market electricity prices

Important results from the project

The purpose of the project has been to find a way to relieve the power grids at high load by using hourly price control of electricity-based heat loads. The goals of the project were several: * To develop a module to retrieve hourly prices * To implement, test and validate the control in four housing cooperatives * To evaluate the results both energy-technically and economically. All these objectives and goals have been met during and through the project.

Expected long term effects

The project was expected to lead to a functioning control to be able to automatically prioritize heating with a heat pump and/or district heating based on what is currently the most economically advantageous. It was also expected to lead to functionality that can disconnect the control in the event of a failure. A further expectation was to be able to obtain a decision-making basis on whether it might be profitable to switch to hourly metering and billing of electricity for a condominium association instead of a fixed or monthly variable price agreement. These expectations have been met.

Approach and implementation

The plan was to first develop a module to collect hourly prices from the electricity exchange and then enter it into the heating control. Algorithms were then developed to be able to prioritize which heat source(s) should be used based on cost, as well as algorithms for error handling. The control was implemented and then tested in four BRF and evaluated technically and economically after about 6 months of operation. During the process, a number of potential development areas have also come up that will lead to follow-on projects.