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ESB has teamed up with GreenCom Networks (GreenCom) to demonstrate the demand flexibility of heat pumps in Irish homes.
The one-year proof of concept study aimed to show that heat pump operational flexibility can be successfully facilitated by an IoT platform. The concept study managed to lower the carbon intensity of heating/hot water usage and to offer demand response capacity to the grid while maintaining comfort levels and reducing electricity costs for homeowners.
The study commenced in January 2020, with results confirming that the carbon intensity of heat pump demand can be lowered by shifting usage to times of high renewable electricity generation. It is also possible to shift usage in response to electricity market signals thereby alleviating the impact they could have on the grid. Furthermore, by concentrating usage at low price hours of a time of use tariff, the heating costs for a customer could be lowered by more than 15%, without impacting on their comfort levels.
As part of the study, participating homeowners with Mitsubishi Electric Ecodan heat pumps in their homes were connected to GreenCom’s energy IoT platform. Automatic remote control for all heat pumps was set up and by running GreenCom’s optimisation algorithms, each heat pump was configured to either reduce CO2 emissions, react to market price signals or to a time of use tariff.
This way, the optimisation could benefit all involved: carbon emissions reduction helps with Ireland’s decarbonisation ambitions, optimising by energy market price signals allows for demand response use cases and optimising by end customer energy tariff lowers costs for the homeowner.
Brian Montayne, eHeat manager at ESB, said: "The electrification of the residential heating sector is a key component of Ireland's Climate Action Plan. Using clean, low-carbon electricity to heat our homes is critical to this transition, which ESB fully supports. We are delighted to have partnered with GreenCom Networks on this study as it has showcased the opportunities and benefits that can arise from using IoT and heat pump technology for customers, the environment and grid operations."
