Study on Planning Method of Distributed Electric Heating System at Rural Areas in Northern China Considering Demand-side Response and Heating Load Characteristics

Abstract

Frequently, severe air pollution in Northern China was largely induced by coal-based energy consumption, especially bulk coal usage. The adoption of the distributed electric heating (DEH) system at rural areas in Northern China could dramatically reduce the total amount of coal consumption for heating purposes, which contributed to a reduction in air pollution and promoted structural adjustment and the technological advance of heat supply. Existing research primarily focused on lower the operation cost of DEH system under certain scenarios, lacking a systematic approach to total cost-benefit analysis. This paper discussed how to achieve minimum total heat supply system cost based on optimized planning method of DEH system considering demand-side response and heating load characteristics. We predicted the total scales of DEH system in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region according to implementing plan of BTH’s clean heating with a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis. Taken heating load characteristics and demand-side response into consideration, we found that our proposed planning method of DEH system effectively reduced the construction cost of heat supply system with a small amount of heating demand loss. The future scale of DEH system application would be huge in BTH region and a case study in the appointed region confirmed the rationality of our proposed planning method.