Load Control by Demand Side Management to Support Grid Stability in Building Clusters

Abstract

Increasing numbers of photovoltaic systems and heat pumps in existing building clusters can lead to an overload of the associated electric grid substations. Based on a multi-agent-based simulation of three building cluster types the impact of building flexibility in regard to the residual substation load is studied. Each building announces its available flexibility, e.g., “heat pump can be switched off/on”. A cluster master coordinator evaluates the incoming offers and decides which offers are accepted in regard to the substation’s capacity utilization. The goal is to honour the substation’s limit by shifting the residual load. This paper presents results from three typical urban building clusters for different penetration scenarios in regard to heat pumps, photovoltaic systems, batteries and electric vehicles. It is shown that in the studied building clusters a high penetration of heat pumps and photovoltaic systems can violate the existing substation’s limits, regardless of the efforts by the master coordinator. Batteries of typical capacities cannot reduce the peak residual load. The load shifting options of the master coordinator are limited.