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Ziel eines aktuellen Forschungsprojektes an der Hochschule Reutlingen, das gemeinsam mit dem Ingenieurbüro Ganssloser und der Universität Tübingen durchgeführt wird, ist es, Flexibilitäten in Unternehmen, die im Verbund als virtuelles Kraftwerk am Strommarkt agieren, zu erkennen und nutzbar zu machen. Zu diesem Zweck soll eine Steuerbox für Industrie- und Gewerbebetriebe entwickelt werden, die einerseits mit der zentralen Leitwarte des virtuellen Kraftwerks kommuniziert und andererseits die Anlagen des Unternehmens so steuert, dass die zur Verfügung stehenden Flexibilitäten möglichst optimal genutzt werden. Die Hochschule Reutlingen beschäftigt sich innterhalb des Projekts mit der Erkennung und Beschreibung von Flexibilitäten in Unternehmen.
Nowadays CHP units are discussed for the production of electricity on demand rather than for generation of heat providing electricity as a by-product. By this means, CHP units are capable of satisfying a higher share of the electricity demand on-site and in this new role, CHP units are able to reduce the load on the power grid and to compensate for high fluctuations of solar and wind power.
Evidently, a novel control strategy for CHP units is required in order to shift the operation oriented at the heat demand to an operation led by the electricity demand. Nevertheless, the heat generated by the CHP unit needs to be utilized completely in any case, for maintaining energy as well as economic efficiency. Such a strategy has been developed at Reutlingen University, and it will be presented in the paper. Part of the strategy is an intelligent management for the thermal energy storage (TES) ensuring that the storage is at low level in terms of its heat content just before an electricity demand is calling the CHP unit into operation. Moreover, a proper forecast of both, heat and electricity demand, is incorporated and the requirements of the CHP unit in terms of maintenance and lifetime are considered by limiting the number of starts and stops per unit time and by maintaining a certain minimum length of the operation intervals.
All aspects of this novel control strategy are revealed in the paper, which has been implemented on a controller for further testing at two sites in the field. Results from these tests are given as well as results from a simulation model, which is able to evaluate the performance of the control strategy for an entire year.