Value of electric heat boilers and heat pumps for wind power integration

The paper analyses the economic value of using electric heat boilers and heat pumps as wind power integration measures relieving the link between the heat and power production in combined heat and power plants. Both measures have different technical and economic characteristics, making a comparison of the value of these measures relevant. A stochastic, fundamental bottom-up model, taking the stochastic nature of wind power production explicitly into account when making dispatch decisions, is used to analyse the technical and economical performance of these measures in a North European power system covering Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Introduction of heat pumps or electric boilers is beneficial for the integration of wind power, because the curtailment of wind power production is reduced, the price of regulating power is reduced and the number of hours with very low power prices is reduced, making the wind power production more valuable. The system benefits of heat pumps and electric boilers are connected to replacing heat production on fuel oil heat boilers and combined heat and power (CHP) plants using various fuels with heat production using electricity and thereby saving fuel. The benefits of the measures depend highly on the underlying structure of heat production. The integration measures are economical, especially in systems where the marginal heat production costs before the introduction of the heat measures are high, e.g. heat production on heat boilers using fuel oil. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.