Low-frequency power-grid ancillary services from commercial building HVAC systems

With the introduction of volatile renewable energy sources into the grid, the need for inexpensive ancillary service increases. We propose a method to provide ancillary service by using the flexibility of demand in commercial building HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning) systems. In particu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in2013 IEEE International Conference on Smart Grid Communications (SmartGridComm) pp. 169 - 174
Main Authors Yashen Lin, Barooah, Prabir, Meyn, Sean P.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.10.2013
Subjects
Atmospheric modeling
Buildings
Coils
Cooling
Delays
Meteorology
Power demand
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:With the introduction of volatile renewable energy sources into the grid, the need for inexpensive ancillary service increases. We propose a method to provide ancillary service by using the flexibility of demand in commercial building HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning) systems. In particular, we show how a regulation command transmitted by a balancing authority can be tracked by varying the cooling demand in commercial buildings in real-time. A key idea here is the bandwidth limitation of the regulation signal, which allows the building's HVAC system to provide this service with little effect on the indoor climate. The proposed control scheme can be applied on any building with a VAV (Variable Air Volume) system and on-site chiller(s). Simple calculations show that the commercial buildings in the U.S. can provide 47 GW of regulation reserves in the frequency band f ∈ [1=(60 min);1=(3 min)] with virtually no change in the indoor climate, while meeting current ISO/RTO standards for regulation.
DOI:10.1109/SmartGridComm.2013.6687952