Potential of power-to-heat from excess wind energy on the city level

ABSTRACT

This study discusses the potential of power-to-heat (P2H) as an effective option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the heating sector and energy curtailment. P2H promotes the integration of electricity from renewable energy sources into the power grid by utilizing otherwise unused electricity (excess energy) for space heating. To estimate the contribution of this effect from a techno-economic perspective, a linear problem is defined by minimizing the overall heating costs and solved by an open source model generator. Four different scenarios are modeled on a city level, using real heat demand data from a case study regarding the municipality of Greifswald, a region with dominant wind-energy. Results indicate that district heating networks are an important technology for coupling power and heat to meet CO₂ reduction targets. In addition, further integration of renewable energy is promoted to reduce overall emissions and achieve Germany’s climate protection goals by 2050.

KEYWORDS:

• Power-to-heat
• sector coupling
• energy-system modeling
• photovoltaics
• wind energy