An energy management model to study energy and peak power savings from PV and storage in demand responsive buildings

Demand Response (DR) applications along with strategically deployed solar photovoltaic (PV) and ice storage systems at the building level can help reduce building peak demand and energy consumption. Research shows that no work has been carried out to study the impact of integrated control of PV and ice storage on improving building operation and energy savings in demand responsive buildings. This can enable building operators to take advantage of different electricity prices and enable utilities to spread the demand over whole day. This research presents a model to study coordinated control of building end-use loads including cooling, lighting and plug loads, together with PV and ice storage integrated with packaged air conditioning (AC) units. This is used to study their impacts on peak demand and energy consumption in a simulated medium-sized office building located in Virginia/Maryland, U.S. area. Research findings provide an improved understanding of the contribution of DR, solar PV and ice storage systems towards reducing building peak electricity demand and energy consumption while being sensitive to occupant thermal and lighting needs.