Objective and Background Information

The goal of integrating heat pumps into energy management

In combination with a PV system and control via the Sunny Home Manager, heat pumps can make a major contribution to increasing self-consumption, as they are well suited to "shifting" loads.

Heat pumps as so-called load-variable loads can be

• switched on in a targeted manner in order to store solar power, which is not to be fed into the local grid, in the form of thermal energy and use it to cover heating requirements.

• switched off in a targeted manner in order to reduce consumption peaks or avoid them altogether.

Heat Pumps with SG-Ready Interface

The SG Ready label, which was introduced in 2012 by the Bundesverband für Wärmepumpen (BWP) e.V. (German Heat Pump Association), certifies heat pumps that can communicate with the utility grid due to an interface-compatible system component - the Smart Grid Ready interface.

This SG Ready interface enables high grid efficiency and efficient load control.

• Grid operators can access this interface.
  In the event of power peaks or shortages, the grid operator can issue "instructions" to SG Ready heat pumps: For example, he can temporarily shut them down or ramp up their operation.

• Regardless of the current demand, SG Ready heat pumps can

  • convert surplus electricity into thermal energy.

  • temporarily store energy in a hot water or buffer storage tank, for example, in order to temporarily relieve the utility grid on the one hand, and on the other hand to be able to retrieve this temporarily stored energy for own use as needed.

Controlling the SG Ready heat pump via the Sunny Home Manager

As part of its load planning, the Sunny Home Manager determines one or more suitable switch-on times and the suitable switch-on duration for the load based on the PV generation forecast and according to the configured load properties and time windows. It passes this data on to the heat pump as recommendations.
The heat pump receives the signal that it can use solar power via the SG Ready control input and starts producing hot water by increasing the set temperature of the buffer tank.
The activation of the control input, the presetting of the temperature increase and the minimum running time must be set via the control on the heat pump (see the manufacturer's manual).

The Sunny Home Manager coordinates the following steps:

• If there is enough solar power, loads are supplied with solar power according to their configuration, e.g. home appliances or a heat pump are switched on.

• If an electricity storage system is available, the solar power produced in addition and not currently required for the operation of loads is stored. The storage device can be a battery, a charger for an electric vehicle or a heat pump.

• Only when no more electricity is needed for self-consumption or storage for self-consumption is this "surplus" electricity fed into the utility grid.