The effect of heat pumps operational profiles in exploiting renewables with different electricity mixes

The energy transition that is aiming at a deep decarbonization to limit the world temperature rise requires multiple actions in the entire energy sector. Among other measures, the strong development of renewable energy sources in the power sector is gaining momentum in different parts of the world. The possibility of producing low-carbon electricity leads to the interest in increasing the electricity penetration in other sectors, especially in transport and building heating. However, a large share of renewables comes from non-dispatchable sources, notably wind and solar PV, and their daily and seasonal variabilities need to be matched with the demand profiles of those sectors. In particular, the charge of electric vehicles shows a relatively constant demand on a seasonal basis while attention must be paid on the daily operational logics to fully exploit available power from solar and/or wind. On the other hand, the operation of heat pumps for building heating show a strong seasonality that may be an issue in countries that have a larger renewable production during summer. This research work is focusing on this specific issue, with the aim of evaluating the generation mix of the electricity consumption of a heat pump in comparison with the average mix of the power system on an annual perspective. To increase the significance of the results, different countries across the Alps have been analyzed and compared.