Nutzung von Überschuss‐Strom für Fernwärme : Direkte Wandlung oder Wärmepumpe?

For times of oversupply in the power grid, electricity day‐ahead‐prices may fall below zero, hence giving an incentive to turn on power‐to‐heat plants. This study compares the potential of direct heating (immersion heating principle) with a heat pump for the reference capacity of 1 MW, laying emphasis on the use case of German public utilities. Day‐ahead‐prices over the period of one year and theoretical assumptions are assessed. The comparison focuses on the critical net electricity price, the run time and the profitability of the two PtH principles.The investment costs of the heat pump are higher but the calculated run time per year is also much higher so that the payback time was found to be 5.3 years whereas the investment in a direct heating does not pay back over 10 years.