If housing corporations take a grid-friendly approach to improving the sustainability of their neighborhoods, the burden on the grid will be much lower than previously calculated. Still, it will always require more grid capacity, while larger connections will wait. What can corporations do if they still want to proceed with renovation independent of the grid operators?
The recently published report "Grid-conscious Renovation and Electrification" attempts to shed light on this. It begins with a hopeful message. The practical data examined for it show that the grid load of homes that are renovated is significantly lower than previous calculations had shown. Provided grid-conscious or even grid-friendly sustainability is implemented by housing corporations. The costs involved, the researchers admit, cannot be directly recovered anywhere and are therefore borne by the corporations.
Grid-friendly renovation
A whole raft of measures are proposed for grid-conscious or grid-friendly renovation. First of all, there must be thorough insulation; that's where it all starts. A much simpler measure that lowers the peak is that the heat pump scales down when the hot plate goes on. In any case, it is useful if smart control ensures that the heat pump avoids the peak. Finally, the effect of choosing a ground source heat pump instead of an air-water heat pump was investigated.
Less load, still congestion
All these measures together ensure that the grid load is up to 50 percent lower than the standard all-electric approach. Moreover, the peak moments are at other times of the day.
So much for the good news, although it is mostly good news for the grid operator and the costs are for the corporations. But the corporations are running into more grid problems. Because even though the load is lower than predicted, it is still higher than it was. And so the new homes do need new three-phase connections. While the grid operator is far from always able to provide those immediately, due to lack of grid capacity, technical staff or materials.
Three program lines
How can the well-intentioned corporation still continue with grid-conscious or even grid-friendly renovation? Because grid operators would like homes with a cooktop and a heat pump to have a three-phase connection so that the grid load can be evenly distributed between the phases.
The researchers propose an approach with three program lines, which are not interdependent. The first line is about insulating. That does not depend on the connection and lowers heat demand and increases comfort. The second line is modernizing the meter box, which can already be prepared for the three-phase connection. The third line is the of installations, the heat pump and cooking supply, and possible solar panels (problems with feed-in, by the way, were not studied). When will the house get a three-phase connection, when does the boiler need to be replaced, what are the expected numbers and what are the requirements for controllability and buffering capacity, among other things.
Recommendation
By separating the three, corporations that want to renovate grid-consciously or even grid-friendly can still make a workable schedule, without having to wait for the grid operators. And that net-friendly renovation is important, say the researchers: "In all cases, when designing renovation approaches, the recommendation is to aspire to at least the performance level 'net-aware' and, where possible, the level 'net-friendly.' At the societal level, this leads to reduction of grid congestion, lower costs for the electricity infrastructure and acceleration opportunities for future projects."
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