NETWORK LIMITS ON RESIDENTIAL HEAT PUMP CAPACITY AS AN ENABLING TECHNOLOGY TOWARDS RENEWABLES INTEGRATION

Abstract

In addition to increasing the share of renewables in power systems, there is also growing interest in the electrification of the heating sector; in particular, via the installation of residential heat pumps. This new load category will increase the demand from domestic customers and reduce the natural diversification of loads in low voltage (LV) networks, with implications, at certain times, for the loading levels of network assets, and voltage drops at the extremes of the LV feeders. This paper assesses the volume restrictions that LV feeders are likely to require on the widespread installation of heat pumps for different domestic settings. Consequently, a set of real LV feeders, for selected scenarios, is investigated for different levels of heat pump penetration, network loading conditions and upstream voltage levels. The hosting capacity of the feeders under study is determined and mapped against feeder topological features. Moreover, correlation analysis between the duration and severity of voltage and congestion problems, for different feeder characteristics is performed.