Compact latent heat storage decarbonisation potential for domestic hot water and space heating applications in the UK

A performance comparison is presented for a domestic space and hot water heating system with a conventional gas boiler and an air source heat pump (ASHP) with latent heat storage, both with solar thermal collectors for a typical UK climate, to demonstrate the potential of phase change material based energy storage in active heating applications. The latent heat thermal storage system consisted of 10 modules with RT54HC comprising a total storage capacity of 14.75 kWh that provided 53% extra thermal storage capacity over the temperature range of 40-65 degrees C compared to a water only store. The simulations predicted a potential yearly CO2 reduction of 56%, and a yearly energy reduction of 76% when operating the heat pumps using the economy 10 electricity tariff i.e. a low tariff between 00.00 and 05.00 and 13.00-16.00 with current grid emission values compared to the conventional gas boiler system; successfully offsetting the electrical load to meet the required heat demand. Due to the high capital costs of the heat pump system with latent heat storage, its levelized cost of energy was 117.84 pound/MWh, compared to 69.66 pound/MWh for the gas boiler, on a 20-year life cycle.