Exploring the impact of heat pump-based dwelling design on the low-voltage distribution grid

Abstract

As a result of the requirements for energy efficiency and the related vast deployment of PV and heat pump systems, a rise in the electrical loads introduced on the low voltage distribution grid can be expected. The latter can lead to possible violations of grid technical constraints which will require adjustive measures to be taken. This study investigates the impact of the building design on several grid restriction criteria. A thorough sensitivity analysis is performed based on detailed simulation of two Belgian residential neighbourhoods, where the building parameters are varied in a Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis shows that building parameters aggregated for the neighbourhood show stronger correlations than average ones, and can be confidently linked to the grid performance indicators, with the potential to be used in meta-modelling of neighbourhoods. However, sampling efficiency and input correlation issues are found to require further attention. Such a meta-model, aiming at examining the influence of grid constraints on the efficiency of building energy policies, will be implemented in future work.status: publishe