Values of Coordinated Residential Space Heating in Demand Response Provision

TL;DR

This paper introduces a distributed control strategy for residential space heating that coordinates demand response, reduces peak load, and maintains thermal comfort, enhancing grid flexibility and operational efficiency.

Contribution

It proposes a novel game-theoretical iterative algorithm for demand response coordination and a thermal comfort model considering spatial and temporal differences.

Findings

13.96% reduction in system operational cost

28.22% peak demand shaving

Improved thermal comfort maintenance

Abstract

Demand-side response from space heating in residential buildings can potentially provide a huge amount of flexibility for the power system, particularly with deep electrification of the heat sector. In this context, this paper presents a novel distributed control strategy to coordinate space heating across numerous residential households with diversified thermal parameters. By employing an iterative algorithm under the game-theoretical framework, each household adjusts its own heating schedule through demand shift and thermal comfort compensation with the purpose of achieving individual cost savings, whereas the aggregate peak demand is effectively shaved on the system level. Additionally, an innovative thermal comfort model which considers both the temporal and spatial differences in customised thermal comfort requirements is proposed. Through a series of case studies, it is demonstrated that the proposed space heating coordination strategy can facilitate effective energy arbitrage for individual buildings, driving a 13.96% reduction in system operational cost and 28.22% peak shaving. Moreover, the superiority of the proposed approach in thermal comfort maintenance is numerically analysed based on the proposed thermal comfort quantification model.