Danish participation in IEA EBC Annex 82

The foreseen deployment of large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) may seriously affect the operation and stability of energy networks. It will, therefore, be necessary to control the energy use to maximize matching with the instantaneous energy production. The built-in energy flexibility in buildings is attractive due to the limited infrastructure needed to operationalize this resource, which may be utilized for stabilizing the energy grids and thereby allow for a larger roll-out of RES by making the energy networks resilient through their ability to shift energy demand in time.

In this context, resilient energy networks are prepared for and can withstand the challenges associated with the transition to energy systems with large penetrations of RES. Energy flexible buildings and communities will increase the resilience of the energy networks and also themselves be more resilient to fluctuations in the energy supply.

The energy flexibility of a building is the ability to manage its demand and supply according to local climate conditions, user needs and energy network requirements. Energy flexibility of buildings are able to provide demand side management and load control and thus satisfy requirements of the surrounding energy networks and contribute to resilience of the future energy systems.

During IEA EBC Annex 67 Energy Flexible Buildings, knowledge on how to obtain and control energy flexibility in buildings has been acquired. IEA EBC Annex 67 has shown that different buildings can provide different types of flexibility services to different types of energy networks depending on a variety of factors, including the mix of energy from different renewable energy sources. Further it is not sufficient only to understand the buildings’ inherent energy flexibility. Buildings’ usefulness is determined not only by the requirements of the surrounding energy networks but also by the barriers and motivation of the involved stakeholders such as end-users, building owners, technology manufactures, facility managers, aggregators, distribution and transmission system operators (DSOs and TSOs).

In-depth knowledge of the energy flexibility services that buildings, especially clusters of buildings, may provide and the stakeholder viewpoint on how to utilize this energy flexibility are essential for the design of future resilient Smart Energy Networks. This information is important for the utility companies who will ultimately utilize this energy flexibility, the companies developing business cases for products and services that will support the roll-out of Smart Energy Networks, the policy makers involved in shaping the future energy systems and the government entities setting requirements for new and existing buildings.
Although IEA EBC Annex 67 was a major step forward concerning the understanding of the possible energy flexibility from buildings, Annex 67 also revealed that further work is needed in order to make energy flexibility from buildings an important asset for the future energy networks. The identified research areas are:
1) scaling from single buildings to clusters of buildings (aggregation);
2) energy flexibility and resilience in multi-carrier energy systems (electricity, district heating/cooling and gas);
3) acceptance/engagement of the stakeholders; and
4) business models.

It has, therefore, been decided to create a new IEA EBC annex named Annex 82 Energy flexible buildings towards resilient low carbon energy systems, with the aim of further increasing knowledge in the above-mentioned research areas.

The project is supported by EUDP.

Wtih increasing supply of energy from renewable energu sources, the energy supply will become fluctuating. It is thus important that all comsumers, including buildings, react on this and adapt the energy uptake to periods with plenty of available renewable energy, and less energy uptake in periods with little renewable energy available.

Energy flexibility, Demand responce, Multi carrier energy systems, clusters of buildings,