Abstract
Many assets that are normally installed during an energy-efficient building retrofit can also be used to provide flexible services to the electricity grid. By turning off or turning down some mechanical systems during peak times, it is possible for a building to reduce its load on the electricity network. A field demand response event was simulated at a leisure center in Ireland to evaluate the suitability of the site to participate in the Irish demand response market, to assess how much flexibility it can provide, how much the indoor conditions changed during the test, and to examine whether these remained within satisfactory limits. A survey was conducted to determine whether the occupants perceived any changes to their thermal comfort. The simulation was achieved by identifying non-critical mechanical equipment and turning them off for 2 h. A processing station for demand response and energy monitoring delivered the demand response signal to the site’s building management system. The results show that this site had a flexibility potential of 45 kW, which is considered too low to participate in the demand response market, as Irish aggregators favor sites that can offer over 250-kW flexibility. However, the indoor thermal conditions remained within reasonable ranges and the occupants did not notice the impact of the demand response event. This shows that theoretically, if smaller sites were allowed to sell their flexibility to the electricity market, such leisure centers could participate in demand response services without impacting occupants’ comfort.
Highlights
The electricity grid is a network of transmission and distribution lines that transport power from where it is generated to where it is used
The results show that this site had a flexibility potential of 45 kW, which is considered too low to participate in the demand response market, as Irish aggregators favor sites that can offer over 250-kW flexibility
A demand response event was simulated in October 2018 in a leisure center in Dublin with two objectives: (i) to determine the amount of flexibility available in small to medium-sized leisure centers through load shedding and (ii) to evaluate the impact on the indoor air conditions and the perception of thermal comfort of the occupants
Summary
The electricity grid is a network of transmission and distribution lines that transport power from where it is generated (such as power stations and renewable energy installations) to where it is used (such as buildings and street lights). A further benefit of DR is that it can be used to reduce the problems caused by the intermittent and distributed generation from renewable energy sources by stabilizing both the physical electricity grid and the electricity market. DR provides an opportunity for consumers to become prosumers (both producers and consumers of energy) They can do this by either exporting energy to the grid or by reducing equipment usage during peak usage periods, in response to time-based rates (such as time of use pricing, critical peak pricing, variable peak pricing, real-time pricing) or other financial incentives set by the electricity network operator. While there are great benefits to demand response, turning down or turning off heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for a short period of time generates changes in the indoor temperature, impacting the thermal comfort of occupants. There is a need to study the effect of demand response on the building occupants to better understand its impact on their thermal comfort, health, overall well-being, and productivity (Aghniaey et al, 2019)
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