
The emerging challenge of balancing weather dependent electricity production and variable demand is creating new demands on the energy system. Without adding extensive flexibility to the power system these issues will lead to a costly transition to a decarbonized energy system.
In the Flexi-Sync project, the need of balancing volatility in the energy system is met by increasing flexibility in district heating and cooling systems. The flexibility potential is identified by researchers and implemented by practitioners; energy service providers, district energy companies and housing companies. The project aims to identify how flexibility in district energy can be optimized and, thereby, contribute to the management of variable electricity production and demand.
Allowing greater temperature variations
Flexibility in district energy systems can be realised in many different ways and one of them is to allow for greater variations in indoor temperature. In the Flexi-Sync project one of the aims has been to understand what impact greater variation in indoor temperature of buildings can have on the comfort of occupants of such spaces. This understanding was gained through:
- a scholarly literature review,
- creating three plausible flexibility scenarios for residential buildings,
- collecting Swedish building residents’ opinions about these three scenarios through a survey, and
- through a stakeholder workshop in Austria
Understanding of the technology important, but difficult
The findings that were corroborated by previous findings show that there are more aspects than the range in which the temperature is allowed to vary that is important for the acceptance of varying indoor temperature. First, it is important that occupants understand the flexibility setup, but it is difficult to inform in an understandable and accessible way. When and where (e.g., in the bathroom or bedroom) the variation takes place is also important and, to complicate matters, people often have specific and individual preferences regarding heating. Pricing models that incentivize variation in indoor temperature could enhance the acceptance rate of minor comfort losses.
End-users want control, but don’t demand compensation
The survey also resulted in interesting indications to be confirmed or rejected in future studies. For example, the survey showed that the respondents prefer flexibility setups in which they have control over the flexibility range and are compensated economically for ranges larger than ±0.5°C (Scenario 3) over flexibility setups with the same variation and no control (Scenario 1) and larger variations without control (Scenario 2). But interestingly, some respondents showed a willingness to accept a deterioration of the heating service without any compensation. In the survey, younger residents (aged 18 to 34) showed the highest acceptance of a heating service deterioration without compensation. The survey respondents’ satisfaction with their current heating seemed to influence the extent to which they accepted higher variations in indoor temperature. Finally, the survey indicated that if you spend more time at home, you will have higher demands on thermal comfort.
This article has been written by Sara Renström (RISE), Burcu Ünlütürk (IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute) and Anna Nilsson (IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute). You can find more information about the project on flexisync.eu and in the Celsius Toolbox article “How to optimise district energy flexibility”
RELaTED and 5th generation district heating and cooling – Iurreta demo case
Low temperature district heating and cooling networks are a promising technology to reduce the energy consumption on one of its top demand sectors:...
New Celsius publication: Advancing District Heating & Cooling Solutions and Uptake in European Cities
District energy is a community-based solution that plays a key role in the sustainable cities we want to live in. The developed district heating and...
The 5 principles of 5th generation district heating and cooling
In Europe, heating and cooling represent 50% of the total energy consumption for buildings and the industry. 5th generation district heating and...
Celsius in Review – Summer 2021
The Celsius Initiative: a European project that lives on Though Celsius has come a long way from when it started as a European project under the 7th...
What do green and digital have in common? – Waste heat!
These two words have been coupled a lot to talk about the transition to sustainable societies with the EU Green Deal or in the context of the...
Cities Manifesto for Fossil-Free Heating and Cooling
To ensure that cities’ needs and leadership role are taken on board in this pivotal moment for the future of heating and cooling, Celsius Cities, #DHCities, Energy Cities and FEDARENE have come together to endorse the Cities Manifesto for Fossil-Free Heating and Cooling.
Webinar: Energy System Flexibility
Responding to the ever-increasing energy demand while reducing carbon emissions and their climate impact will require energy systems to be ever more...
Flexibility Through Multi-Energy System Integration
The European energy system will experience important changes in the near future, in particular due to the targets set for renewable energy...
Akademiska Hus’ buildings bring flexibility to the fossil-free energy system
Future energy systems need to become more flexible in the way they utilize the functions and energy demands of buildings. As part of the EU-project...
Celsius Talk on Stakeholder Engagement
When done properly, stakeholder engagement can be the key to the success of a district energy network. Yet, there are many different stakeholders,...
Putting End-Users First
Understanding customers’ perspective when developing low temperature DHC networks There is an EU ambition to create “Energy Citizens”, which will be...
Celsius Talk on Sustainable Finance
There are more green financial instruments than ever before from major funders and investors supporting sustainable solutions. Still, it is very...
Solutions for future district heating systems – The Helsinki Energy Challenge
Get inspired of new solutions tackling the challenge on how to decarbonise a district heating system. Here are the winners of Helsinki Energy Challenge.
New Heating & Cooling Initiative in the Smart Cities Marketplace
Celsius has officially launched an Initiative focussing on Heating & Cooling as part of the Action Cluster Sustainable Districts & Built...
Successful action plans for retrofitting DHC
In order to decarbonise the energy system in the shortest possible time, it is essential to implement practicable and available solutions now. To...
FlexiGrid develops financial instruments for green investments
The energy market is under transition towards becoming more flexible. As in all markets change creates uncertainties for stakeholders, including...
A pioneering project for sustainable energy in Greece
Alexandroupolis, a seaside municipality in Greece’s northeast coast is going to have cost-effective geothermal energy and heating soon. As the world...
Webinar: Retrofitting with renewable energy sources – finding the right mix
As the general trend in the energy sector and the supporting policies aim towards 100% renewable energies for 2050, upgrading heat generation with...