Reducing a semiarid city's peak electrical demand using distributed cold thermal energy storage

This paper utilizes a utility-scale model of the Phoenix metropolitan area to simulate the air conditioning portion of the electrical demand during a summertime heat wave. The electrical demand by air conditioning during peak hours is incrementally shifted to off-peak hours using distributed thermal storage technology. The aggregated thermal storage capacity and operating hours required to reduce the peak load by incremental fractions are established, along with the size of the gross electrical energy cost savings potentially realized by electrical power consumers during heat wave events, at current electricity prices.