Abstract
Currently, the price per consumption of most district heating consumers is static, providing no incentive for consumers to change their heating behavior. A dynamic pricing structure can encourage consumers to adjust their heat demand according to supply conditions. This paper presents a methodology for designing day-ahead dynamic price profiles for district heating to encourage buildings for certain demand response purposes effectively. This method relies on a method to characterize the energy flexibility of buildings and an inverse optimization to obtain the optimal dynamic price profile. The methodology is tested on a residential neighborhood as a case study, using a virtual experiment that includes buildings and a district heating network. Results show that the designed dynamic price could encourage consumers to change their demand profile to match a pre-defined load-shifting profile with 16.6% MAPE. Accordingly, the peak load was reduced by 84.4% as a result of responding to a tailored price profile, considering the flexibility potential of the neighborhood. In addition, heat costs in the neighborhood were reduced by 46.6% compared to the flat price. The findings of this paper highlight the benefits of the dynamic heat price for district heating operators and consumers over the flat price.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Energy |
Volume | 324 |
ISSN | 0360-5442 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2025 |
Keywords
- Energy flexibility
- District heating
- Dynamic heat price
- Demand response
- Peak load reduction