A Systematic Tri-level Demand-driven Supply-side Management Approach on Enhancing Building Energy Performance in an Educational Institution

Abstract

The concept of demand-side management (DSM) is a ceaseless research topic craving an advanced, superior, and qualitative strategy for improving customers’ level of satisfaction with energy utilization. It encourages the active participation of prosumers and paves the way for sufficient energy proficiency. However, less attention is paid to accounting for consumers’ comfort and priorities. This paper presents a tri-level systematic approach for implementing demand-side and supply-side management at the consumer end. The proposed Tri-level Demand-Driven Supply-Side Management (TDD-SSM) framework commences with gathering knowledge on available loads in the department building block of a higher educational institution situated in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, India. The incorporated DSM technique follows strategic load categorization and load scheduling. Following that, a feasibility study on optimal sources is accomplished with Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources software. The simulation is done to have a clear comparison in rendering a techno-enviro-economically feasible configuration of energy source to loads (with and without DSM). Ultimately, the framework concludes by picking the most promising energy configuration through the ideal computational multi-criteria decision-making–Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation II approach, which highlights the energy configuration of photovoltaic solar generation supply along with grid feeding loads after DSM incorporation and is found to be the best energy configuration under techno-enviro-economic criteria.