Flexibility from Cooling and Storage (Flex-Cool-Store)

我们目前正面临着一场史无前例的气候紧急情况，威胁着地球上的生命。限制全球地表温度上升是确保自然和人类不会受到不可逆转影响的关键。对英国来说，能源行业的脱碳以缓解气候变化是一个至关重要的抱负，它将成为第一个通过立法，通过将碳排放降至净零来在2050年结束其对全球变暖的贡献的主要经济体。尽管电力部门已经实现了显著的减排，但其他领域的进展有限，例如供暖(包括空间制冷)，这一领域占英国排放量的三分之一以上。供暖和降温对我们的生活至关重要，不仅是为了舒适和日常活动，也是为了促进生产工作场所和运行各种工业流程。因此，供暖和制冷的脱碳以及减少建筑物的排放对于实现净零排放目标至关重要。冷却脱碳以前并没有受到很大的关注，但由于人口增加和气候变化，这种情况正在改变。建筑物的夏季冷却正变得越来越重要，消费者对更高舒适度的需求也将增加用于冷却服务的能源。预计冷却需求将增加，英国用于冷却的电力份额预计也将进一步上升，这可能会给电力系统带来压力。与此同时，随着太阳能光伏发电量的激增，夏季电力需求正在发生变化，这引发了对电力系统平衡的担忧。由于冷却设施一般仅限于建筑物级别，因此需要对冷却基础设施和建筑物进行大量投资。Flex-Cool-Store汇集了在电力供应和热能系统的技术经济、社会和政策方面具有互补专业知识的学者。这个跨学科项目的主要目标是调查英国制冷需求增长的潜在影响，如何通过冷却供应系统和能源储存的主动设计和灵活操作来管理这种增长，以及如何通过日益脱碳的电力系统来满足新的需求。为支持这一点，将通过访谈和公开研讨会探讨公众对在建筑物和社区内采用制冷技术的看法，以及消费者参与家庭一级能源储存的灵活性供应。结果将与与热脱碳相关的路径和政策一起考虑，并将进行新颖的分析，使用与政策制定者的精英访谈来考虑热脱碳战略、冷却和储存之间的潜在关系。这种跨学科的方法将使Flex-Cool-Store能够从多个角度解决日益增长的制冷和脱碳需求问题，并为建筑物脱碳的最佳实践提供更有力的证据。该项目的具体目标是：1.考虑技术和社会经济因素，了解制冷需求。将进行详细的研究，以了解冷却需求在未来十年可能发生的变化。量化冷却需求增加对电网的影响。将量化供应冷却对高峰电力需求的影响程度，并将利用实际项目的数据，通过选定的案例研究来研究其对电网加固的影响。3.研究了制冷技术与蓄冷技术相结合对电力系统提供的灵活性。将研究制冷和电力系统之间的相互作用和协同作用。将探讨如何采取协调一致的方法来设计和运行建筑物的能源系统，以便最大限度地提供灵活性。

We are currently facing an unprecedented climate emergency threatening life on our planet. Limiting global surface temperature rise is key to ensure irreversible effects for nature and people are not triggered. For the UK, decarbonisation of the energy sector to mitigate climate change is a crucial ambition, becoming the first major economy to pass legislation to end its contribution to global warming by 2050 by reducing its carbon emissions to net-zero. Even though a significant emission reduction has been already achieved in the electric power sector, progress has been limited in other areas, such as heating (including space cooling), which accounts for over a third of UK emissions. Heating and cooling are central to our lives not only for comfort and daily activities, but also to facilitate productive workplaces and to run a variety of industrial processes. Decarbonising heating and cooling and reducing emissions from buildings are thus paramount to meet net-zero targets.Cooling decarbonisation has not previously received significant attention, but this is changing due to population increase and climate change. Summertime cooling of buildings is becoming increasingly important and consumer demand for greater comfort levels will also increase the energy used for cooling services. An increased requirement for cooling is anticipated, with the share of UK electricity used for cooling also expected to rise further, which could strain the electricity system. At the same time, summer electricity demand is changing with a surge in solar PV generation, causing concern for balancing the power system. Since cooling facilities are in general limited to building level, significant investments in cooling infrastructure and buildings are needed. Flex-Cool-Store brings together academics with complementary expertise on techno-economic, societal and policy aspects of electrical power supply and thermal energy systems. The main objective of this interdisciplinary project is to investigate the potential impacts of a growth in UK cooling demand and how this growth can be managed through proactive design and flexible operation of the cooling supply system and energy storage, and how the new demand can be served by an increasingly decarbonised electricity system. Underpinning this, public perception towards the adoption of cooling technologies within buildings and communities and consumer participation in flexibility provision from energy storage at household level will be explored via interviews and public workshops. Outcomes will be considered alongside pathways and policies associated with heat decarbonisation, and novel analysis using 'elite' interviews with policy makers will be conducted to consider the potential relationship between heat decarbonisation strategies, cooling and storage. This interdisciplinary approach will enable Flex-Cool-Store to address the issue of increasing demand for cooling and decarbonisation from multiple angles and to develop an even stronger evidence for best practice around buildings decarbonisation.Specific objectives of the project are:1. Understanding cooling demand considering technical and socio-economic factors. Detailed studies will be conducted to understand how cooling demand might change over the next decades.2. Quantifying the impacts of increased cooling demand on electricity networks. The extent to which supplying cooling will affect peak electricity demand will be quantified and its implications on network reinforcement will be investigated for selected case studies using data from real practical projects. 3. Investigating the flexibility provision to the electrical power system from integrating cooling technologies and storage. The interactions and synergies between cooling and electricity systems will be studied. How to adopt a coordinated approach for designing and operating energy systems of buildings so that the provision of flexibility can be maximised will be explored.