PCM as an energy flexibility asset: How design and operation can be optimized for heating in residential buildings?

In cold climates, residential buildings are often well-insulated to reduce heating costs but may lead to overheating. Incorporating Phase Change Material (PCM) into building envelope can serve as an effective measure to mitigate overheating and reduce cooling costs. However, the inappropriate incorporation of PCM in well-insulated building envelope might negatively affect the heating energy flexibility. Therefore, this paper explores the effectiveness of PCM in reducing heating costs by optimizing the PCM design and heating operation. The main objectives are to (i) quantify the performance of PCM in terms of overheating and cost savings, aligned with the recently introduced Time-of-Use (ToU) tariff and Spot pricing, (ii) identify the optimal design of PCM-incorporated building envelope, and (iii) apply a smart control with resetting temperature setpoints in-line with EN-ISO 52120-1 Standard. A multi-stage optimization process has been designed. It first identifies the optimal properties (i.e., melting temperature), position, and thickness of PCM. Secondly, it optimizes the profile of temperature setpoints, considering the seasonal thermal behavior of PCM. Co-simulation platform between IDA ICE 5.0 and Python 3.8 optimization engine is created for the heating control optimization. Results showed that PCM is more effective when incorporated into the interiors of external walls rather than in roofs. The optimal PCM design for Nordic buildings, featuring 75 mm-thick PCM with a melting temperature of 21 °C positioned within walls' interior, has a varied impact on monthly energy savings across seasons, with a negative effect in spring and a significant positive effect in autumn. After the multi-stage optimization, the optimal scenario enables to achieve a maximum annual cost savings of 6.5 % with ToU tariff and 21.0 % with Spot pricing, while also eliminating overheating.