International Energy Agency IEA HPT Annex 52 recently published “New Guideline to Instrumentation and data” to address the challenges experienced with verification of performance of Ground Source Heat Pumps. With increasing energy prices and a focus on climate change, this guide will be useful for those pushing optimization and reliability based on documentation of performance. One of the methods described for performance analyzing is the “Internal Method”, based on thermodynamic analytics of the processes. This article describes experiences of field monitoring with this method and faults that can be identified and corrected.

Optimal control of buildings relies on predicting their behaviour using techniques such as mathematical modelling, data science or a combination of both. However, these predictions are typically limited to a few days. Consequently, in ground source heat pump systems, the controller is unaware whether abusive energy injection/extraction into/from the ground will deplete the source over the years. This article presents a simulation-optimization study that showcases the importance of accounting for the long-term behaviour of the ground towards the optimal operation of hybrid geothermal systems. Further theoretical energy use savings of 23.4% can be achieved compared to a baseline optimal controller that only accounts for the short-term future.

It's sunny outside: does your heat pump know?
Traditional control approaches for heat pump systems in residential buildings are based on the "heating curve" setting, where the supply temperature to the heating (or cooling) distribution system is defined as a function of the outdoor temperature. If the outdoor temperature is the only control input available, the heat pump system cannot take into account important additional inputs, like solar radiation, that can substantially vary on a daily basis throughout the year and negatively affect the indoor comfort and the energy-saving possibilities.

Wide-scale adoption of heat pumps not only decarbonizes the heating and cooling sector but also increases the availability of energy flexible services. While new heat pump control strategies are investigated, the role of the implemented internal heat pump control by the manufacturer cannot be simply neglected, especially when third-parties want to directly control the heat pump. This article aims to summarize the effects of the internal heat pump control with the focus on energy flexibility provision while maintaining a system’s perspective on the energy flexibility trading in a peer-to-peer manner.