Operational Cost Assessment of Air-Source Heat Pumps Integrated to Thermal Energy Storage in Southern Brazil: Preprint

Air source heat pump (ASHP) deployment is expected to grow in the next years as a response to the decarbonization needs in the building sector. While not extremely cold, the southern region of Brazil has relevant heating demands during winter; therefore, we present a techno-economic analysis on HP-based systems operating for three different locations in the region. A dynamic simulation model was implemented to represent the ASHP and the integration with a thermal energy storage (TES). The system's performance was compared to combustion appliances and electric resistance heaters operating over a year. Results show that in the Brazilian context, traditional combustion appliances present 13% to 41% higher operation costs and 69:5% more CO2 emission, compared to electric resistance heaters. Furthermore, replacing electric resistances by ASHP could reduce the energy consumption up to 74%, with the costs and CO2 emissions following the same trend. When TES was integrated to the ASHP, the energy consumption increased from 7% to 23%, depending on the location. Results suggest the use of TES could be advantageous if a better operation logic is implemented and time-of-use rates are considered.