Flexible Heat will research and demonstrate the value that intelligent management can bring to unlocking flexibility from domestic Thermal Energy Storage (TES).

It will undertake a market review of existing and novel TES technology, identify the value in each, and establish the control requirements to harvest the available flexibility. Flexible Heat will demonstrate the control platform in operation - heating demand will be shifted to meet flexibility needs, whilst maintaining customer warmth and comfort.

By determining the benefits for the whole system, it will produce insights to inform government regulatory and commercial policies.

Flexible Heat meets the scope of the competition by:

·       Using smart approaches to manage large-scale electrified heat deployment in a local area, reducing the need for network reinforcement

·       Inclusion of a work package which focuses upon the commercial and investment case for financing heating technologies alongside energy network innovation

We will for the first time bring all critical stakeholders together and develop flexibility from domestic heat, including new and innovative technologies.

The discovery phase will explore the topic and define the technical, commercial, and customer considerations in optimising heat flexibility.

SP Transmission is the lead organisation. Our partners are industry leading organisations and key players in the development, manufacture and deployment of innovative heating solutions including TES:

·       Active Building Centre Research Programme: Centre of excellence for buildings involved in developing new TES technologies.

·       Connected Response: SME technology provider of smart controls for storage heating and hot water systems.

·       Delta-EE: Consultancy with expertise in the domestic energy sector.

·       E.ON Energy Solutions: Leading energy solution provider within the UK domestic sector.

·       The University of Glasgow: Expert in developing flexible heating technologies; leading the UKRI FASHION project to improve heat pump efficiency and flexibility.

·       Sunamp: A leading manufacturer of Phase Change Material thermal battery storage technology.

The end users of the proposed solution are domestic customers who will have heat pumps installed as heating is decarbonised. These users need a clear pathway to deploy and benefit from thermal storage. This includes: - 

·       Suitable TES solutions offered during the installation process

·       The costs and benefits are clear to the consumer

·       The needs of vulnerable customers are included

·       New commercial arrangements are developed to realise the whole systems value of domestic TES

We will engage with key stakeholders, building on existing relationships including consumer organisations, housing developers, local authorities, housing associations, energy suppliers and aggregators.

Problem Bring Solved

Problem:

The predicted pathways for decarbonising domestic heat will result is a large increase in electrification as gas and other fossil fuel fired boilers are replaced by heat pumps. Gas peak daily energy demand is currently 4-times that of electricity; even mitigated by high Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of heat pumps, peak electricity demand could increase by around 300%.

The unmitigated increase in peak demand will result in overloading of the electricity system including the transmission/distribution networks and generation capacity. The necessary reinforcement to meet peak demand will come at significant cost to the consumer, our research suggests this could be up to £1.3bn by 2030 across our SPD license area. 

Opportunity:

Opportunity exists to enable flexibility from domestic Heat to mitigate this peak electricity demand. We can defer the network reinforcement which would be required to meet these challenges conventionally. Furthermore, flexibility from heat can help to manage network stability and balancing.

In the 2021 Future Energy Scenarios, the Energy System Operator (ESO) estimate that Thermal Energy Storage (TES) devices installed alongside heat pumps could reduce peak electricity demand from heating by 35% in the Leading the Way scenario.

Within the Carbon Trust’s Flexibility in Great Britain report the possible flexibility available from Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is estimated at 900GWh. The report also states ‘it is important to build flexibility into technologies and service offerings right from the start rather than retrofit in the future which would make it prohibitive. Examples of such integration includes …. with heat pumps in domestic and non-domestic buildings…’

By ensuring that an appropriate control platform and thermal storage are incorporated along with heat pump roll-out, we will create flexible low carbon heat demand and help build a compelling customer proposition for decarbonising homes. Understanding and managing domestic heat pumps and TES in an intelligent manner will allow flexibility available from heat to accessed efficiently and support the transition to net zero.