Potential of the Power-to-Heat Technology in District Heating Grids in Germany

The increasing amount of power generation from weather-dependent renewable sources in Germany is projected to lead to a considerable number of hours in which power generation exceeds power demand. One possibility to take advantage of this power surplus is through the Power-to-Heat technology. As combined heat and power (CHP)-plants can be upgraded relatively easily with a Power-to-Heat facility, a huge potential can be developed in German district heating grids which are mainly served by CHP-plants. In this paper the potential of the Power-to-Heat technology in district heating grids in Germany is evaluated for the years 2015 to 2030 under different assumptions.