Quantification and economic analysis of virtual energy storage caused by thermal inertia in buildings

Abstract

The virtual energy storage caused by the thermal inertia of the building is the property and can participate in the demand response. However, the quantification of this virtual energy storage part is not clear. To determine the energy flexibility potential of building virtual energy storage, quantitative indicators such as charging and discharging time, and charging and discharging energy are proposed. The building model was created using the building energy simulation software EnergyPlus, and the quantification of each performance indicator of the building’s virtual energy storage was developed. Among them, the optimal charging time for this building model is 30 minutes, and the optimal discharging time is 60 minutes. Under the optimal virtual energy storage operation strategy, the charging energy is 57 kWh and the discharging energy is 84 kWh. Compared with the reference strategy, the building virtual energy storage operation strategy saves 48.76 yuan in single-day cooling electricity cost, with a 3% savings rate. The results show that building virtual energy storage has certain energy flexibility without additional investment and can generate certain economic benefits at the same time.