Active demand response (ADR) using the thermal mass of buildings is often suggested as a key technology to enable the transition to a sustainable energy market. Nevertheless, a generic method to quantify the ADR potential of structural thermal energy storage and that enables a comparison with other buildings or even different storage technologies, is currently missing.
In this paper, the available storage capacity, efficiency of the storage process and power shifting capability are defined and demonstrated as key performance indicators for the ADR potential of structural storage.
Building energy simulations are used to quantify these indicators as function of building design parameters, showing that the ADR potential mainly depends on the heat loss coefficient and available thermal mass. Moreover, it is shown that the efficiency and the available storage capacity are not constant but depend on the dynamic boundary conditions.status: accepte