Power Flex House
Actively controlled buildings for smart grid test activities.
Transforming buildings into assets for intelligent power grids and testing
The Power Flex House facility at DTU Risø Campus is a collection of three individual houses, which have been equipped with sensors and controllable power and heating equipment. The Power Flex House facility is interconnected with the configurable 400 V grid and the communication platform of the SYSLAB facility.
With a peak load of 10 to 20 kW, the buildings are well-sized for parallel operation on the SYSLAB power grid. All loads can be controlled by the central building gateway which receives data and events from bus controlled wired or wireless switches and sensors.
A platform for smart grid test activities
Consumer impact studies
The impact of the required service level on the load flexibility and the potential economic benefit for the consumers can be analyzed. The various controllable electrical units are controlled within given conditions according to the required service level on the one hand and the potential benefits on the other hand.
Consumer strategies and portfolio coordination
The impact on the total efficiency (in terms of cost per kWh) of various control strategies for the demand can be tested – including central management, distributed management based on simulated local price signals, the voltage levels and the common line frequency. Control dependency on measurement and requirement to connection/interfaces can be analyzed.
Grid impact and system efficiency
The impact on the overall system efficiency of the time step and time delay (from hours to seconds) of the synthetic price signal provided to the consumer can be analyzed – including a) fixed prices within an hour, b) new (fixed) price signals every minute and c) asynchronous local price signals defined by actual local status.
Technical Specifications
Load units are automatically controlled, and houses can be operated as individual entities or as combined loads
Building 1
- 120 m² eight room office building
- 10 pcs electric space heaters (0.7-1.25 kW)
- Refrigerator
- 2.3 kW hot water boiler
- 5 pcs 0.75/0.99 kW cooling/heating air conditioner w/heat pump
- 1.4 kW light installation
- 50 bus controlled sensor/actuator devices
Building 2
- 100 m² one story domestic house
- 10 pcs hot water heaters (0.7-1.25 kW)
- Refrigerator/Freezer
- Electric stove
- Dish washer
- Washing machine/dryer
- 3 kW hot water boiler
- 1.2 kW light installation
- 50 bus controlled sensor/actuator devices
Building 3
- 150 m² three story domestic house
- Heaters (0.6-1.4 kW)
- Refrigerator/Freezer
- Dish Washer
- Washing Machine/Dryer
- 3 kW Hot Water Boiler
- 1.5 kW Light Installation
- 80 Bus Controlled Sensor/actuator devices
Possible parallel operation on the SYSLAB power grid
SYSLAB is an advanced experimental facility at DTU’s Risø Campus, designed for testing and validating control strategies in active distribution networks. It offers a real-world microgrid environment where researchers and industry innovators can integrate and assess control solutions for sustainable energy systems.