Work

Impact of decarbonized heating sector at local scale on the national power grid

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Heating sector is responsible for a large share of global CO2 emissions because it mainly relies on fossil fuels. Electrification appears as a key driver in decarbonizing heat production, with two main impacts that need to be assessed: lower emissions, depending on the availability of decarbonized electricity, and a strong impact on the power grid due to the shift to this energy carriers. As heating needs are local in nature, we address this issue by studying the impact of electrifying heating at the local level (district) on the national – simplified French – power system, using Linear Programming (LP) optimization approaches. Results show that, small-scale power-to-heat (P2H) technologies both reduce cost and CO2 emissions. Combined with district heating network and thermal storages, large-scale heat-pumps enable additional substantial savings. In addition, we found out that, although P2H increases power demand in winter, it does not foster additional needs for gas-fired capacities. Overall, investing in power-to-heat solutions appears as a safe and advisable technological choice, both in terms of economic cost and carbon footprint.

Source: Energy Reports

DOI: 10.1016/j.egyr.2025.11.091

Authors: Anne-Geneviève Lemelle, Arthur Clerjon, Fabien Perdu, Philippe Azaïs

Institutions: Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Laboratoire d’Innovation pour les Technologies des Énergies Nouvelles et les nanomatériaux, CEA Grenoble

Language: English

Topic: Integrated Energy Systems Optimization

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,040