CombiVolt – Influence of smart heat pumps on PV self-consumption and on the electrical grid

Several companies develop or already offer «smart heat pumps» on the market which combine heat pumps (HP) with photovoltaics (PV). These heat pumps are advertised to optimize self-consumption of the PV electricity as well as to deliver grid services to the utilities. In the CombiVolt project, the influence of intelligent control for heat pumps on both (self-consumption and grid-stability) is analyzed based on whole system testing in the lab in combination with simulations. The options to increase self-consumption by means of electrical or thermal storage are compared. Thereby the current tariff-schemes of today are considered as well as future scenarios for PV penetration and electricity tariffs.

CombiVolt is supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).