Frequency Regulation by Thermostatically Controlled Loads: a Technical and Economic Analysis

The aim of this paper is the technical-economic assessment of the performance of the contribution of aggregated domestic thermostatic loads, as refrigerators and water heaters, to primary frequency regulation. The impact of a flexible management of this class of loads to the frequency control activities are evaluated in a power grid on a regional scale, using a forecasted model of the Sardinian electrical grid for the year 2020. Performance parameters are analyzed for the evaluation of the provided frequency regulation service. An economic assessment is performed in order to calculate the possible remuneration owed to the regulating units for the provision of primary and secondary regulation services, with and without the contribution supplied by thermostatic loads.