Residential water heaters as a grid-scale energy storage solution using model predictive control

With the rapid increase of renewable energy on the power system, an increase in reserve capabilities is required. As traditional reserve resources reach their maximum capacity for providing this service, alternative solutions must be found to supplement existing reserves. One such alternative is to utilize grid-scale energy storage to provide reserves. Though many technologies for grid-scale energy storage are cost prohibitive, one cost-effective solution is the use of existing residential water heaters as a distributed energy storage resource. This paper presents one possible control methodology, using Model Predictive Control, to demonstrate the feasibility of controlling such a resource. Simulation results show that Model Predictive Control can be effectively used to control multiple residential water heaters to provide reserve services for renewable energy resources.