Electric Thermal Storage Option for Nova Scotia Power Customers: A Case Study of a Typical Electrically Heated Nova Scotia House

ABSTRACT Nova Scotia Power (NS Power) offers an incentive to the owners of electrically heated houses in Nova Scotia to switch from conventional electric baseboard heaters to electric thermal storage (ETS) systems and enjoy the rebated time-of-day (TOD) electricity rates. For this study, a statistically representative, electrically heated, existing Nova Scotia house was modeled in the building energy simulation software ESP-r to estimate its peak heating load and hourly heating energy consumption for an entire year. Based on the ESP-r simulation results, the ETS system was sized for the house, and the energy cost saving realized with this system was estimated. It was found that, compared to conventional electric baseboard heating system, the ETS heating system can save 41–48% in the heating cost on an annual basis, yielding a simple-payback (SPB) period for this retrofit of less than eight years.