Paper Conference

Proceedings of uSim Conference 2022: 3rd uSim Conference of IBPSA-Scotland

     

ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF ADVANCED CONTROL FOR STORAGE HEATING IN UK SOCIAL HOUSING

Nick Kelly, Andrew Cowie, Jon Hand

Abstract: In this paper, building simulation was used to assess the impact of smart electric heating control on heating performance and costs in UK social housing. A smart storage heating controller model was developed, comprising two elements: 1) day-ahead heating load prediction, based on outside air temperature and solar radiation; and 2) load shifting of the predicted heating charge to the lowest cost periods of a flexible tariff. A pre-simulation was used to generate a regression equation for heating charge as a function of day-ahead mean air temperature and solar insolation; this mimicked a controller learning process. The controller was applied to a case study of 1960's UK high rise housing. The simulation results showed that, compared to conventional storage heating control, the smart controller resulted in energy savings of 18-24%, and cost savings of 20-50%. There were some negative effects on indoor air temperatures, but comfort in the principal occupied spaces was maintained. Much of the cost saving was attributable to switching from an off-peak tariff to the timevarying tariff, and to reduced energy use due to better charge estimation. Moving demand to low-cost periods had a more marginal impact on heating costs.
Paper:
usim2022_p100