Power balancing capacity and biomass demand from flexible district heating production to balance variable renewable power generation
Svante W. Monie, Magnus Åberg
Abstract
The European Commission has, following the Paris Agreement, announced a “European Green Deal” to decarbonize energy sectors and increase renewable power. This study investigates to what extent district heating systems with biomass-fueled combined heat and power, electricity driven compression heat pumps, and pit thermal energy storages, can contribute to power balancing capacity in a future Swedish power system with a high share of variable renewable electricity production. District heat production is, in this study, unconventionally controlled to primarily supply a power balancing demand, where co-produced heat is stored if not directly supplied to district heating users. The impact of this on the biomass demand is also investigated. Simulations are made on an aggregated level for one part of the Swedish electricity market. The results show that district heating systems have the potential to reduce peak variable renewable power deficits by up to 52%. All power surpluses can potentially be used for heat production in heat pumps. A heat storage capacity of 17–18% of the heat demand is necessary. Fuel use are 11–12% higher for district heating production controlled for power balancing compared to conventional heat production, depending on the mix of renewable power generation technologies. For instance, a large share of solar power in relation to wind power reduce fuel use to a greater extent when compared to the opposite relation.