Optimizing Heat Pump Load Flexibility for Cost, Comfort, and Carbon Emissions
Optimizing heat pump load flexibility for cost, comfort, and carbon emission reductions
The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of the Davis Campus
Recipient
Davis, CA
Recipient Location
3rd
Senate District
4th
Assembly District
$1,842,743
Amount Spent
Active
Project Status
Project Update
The team has made significant progress this period, successfully deploying the control system in the field and gathering valuable real-world data. Concurrently, the team engaged with key manufacturers and stakeholders to assess the potential market size and demand for the control solution, taking a forward-thinking approach to future commercial applications.
These two milestones are crucial steps towards understanding the technology's viability and informing development. The team is now analyzing the initial field test results and incorporating stakeholder feedback to refine their strategy as needed.
The Issue
Heat pumps for space conditioning and water heating are currently controlled using rule-based logic to maintain a programmed temperature setpoint. This design does not provide any flexibility to adjust the heat pump operations based on cost of electricity or grid carbon emissions rate. As California continues to decarbonize the electrical grid and more customers electrify, the need for load flexibility for heat pumps will be critical for maximizing the use of carbon-free electricity sources. This is needed to stabilize the electricity grid, and minimize the cost of operation to end users, particularly as time-of-use rates begin to reflect the true costs of electricity generation.
Project Innovation
This project develops and tests an advanced control system that saves energy, improves grid reliability, and reduces carbon emissions by optimizing heat pump operation based on building owner/occupant preferences, comfort and use patterns, electricity pricing, electricity grid needs, real-time carbon emission rates, and weather data. Load flexibility controls offer a way to mitigate the impact of electrification on low-income customers by empowering households to shift consumption to times of day with lower rates without compromising their comfort. The recipient will test controls for heat pump water heaters in multiple low-income households (across two climate zones). The developed controls for water heating will also be adapted to heat pumps that provide space conditioning and field test them in two low-income households. The controls will be futureproofed to facilitate integration with other smart home devices.
Project Benefits
Electrifying California's housing stock to reduce carbon emissions could yield some unintended negative consequences, including creating a winter peak and increasing residential utility bills, especially when larger time-of-use rate differentials are anticipated. The recipient will develop load flexibility controls for heat pumps that will play a vital role in mitigating the impacts of switching water and space heating away from natural gas. The load flexibility controls have the potential to improve grid reliability, lower emissions, and reduce utility bills for households with heat pumps.
