Flexible heat load for managing wind variability in the Irish power system

The main contribution of this paper is based on a practical investigation of the storage capabilities of underfloor heating from an electrically operated heat pump. A series of experiments have been conducted and results are presented of the electric power consumption of the heat pump, floor temperature, room temperature, outside temperature and thermal time constants. The Wilmar planning tool has been used to evaluate various options for triggering these flexible loads, particularly for peak shaving and utilising high wind periods to charge thermal loads and low wind periods for discharging. Operating costs, numbers of starts of various plant and wind curtailment have been compared with the nominal case as well as with and without system interconnectors.