  Being able to adjust the demand of electricity can be an effective means for
power system operators to compensate fluctuating renewable generation, to avoid
grid congestion, and to cope with other contingencies. Electric heating and
cooling systems of buildings can provide different demand response services
because their electricity consumption is inherently flexible because of their
thermal inertia. This paper reports on the results of a large-scale demand
response demonstration involving a population of more than 300 residential
buildings with heat pump installations. We show how the energetic behavior and
flexibility of individual systems can be identified autonomously based only on
energy meter data and outdoor air temperature measurements, and how the
aggregate demand response potential of the population can be quantified.
Various load reduction and rebound damping experiments illustrate the
effectiveness of the approach: the load reductions can be predicted precisely
and amount to 40-65% of the aggregate load, and the rebound can be damped
efficiently.
