1. Strategies to Increase Deployment of Renewables Using Cool Thermal Energy Storage.
- Author
-
Van Asselt, Amy, Reindl, Douglas T., and Nellis, Gregory F.
- Subjects
- *
HEAT storage , *ENERGY consumption , *RENEWABLE energy sources , *THERMOELECTRICITY , *RENEWABLE natural resources - Abstract
Most larger buildings rely on one or more chillers operating on-demand to instantaneously meet building thermal loads as they occur. Unfortunately, the cost of electricity is highest during daytime, on-peak periods when building thermal loads are highest. Cool thermal energy storage (CTES) is a proven technology that enables decoupling the production of cooling from the coincident demand for cooling. CTES systems typically use either a single stratified chilled-water tank or a multiplicity of ice storage modules as a means of storing thermal energy during favorable chiller operating periods for later use to meet building cooling demands. For decades, building owners have benefited from CTES systems because of their ability to reduce utility costs by shifting the production of cooling from high cost on-peak periods to low cost off-peak periods. With increasing deployment of renewable energy generation, an additional application is provided for CTES related to alleviating problems associated with this intermittent source of electricity generation. As a technically mature and relatively inexpensive means of providing end-use electricity demand management, CTES has the potential to bridge mismatches between intermittent renewable generation and the utility aggregate demand for electricity. As we show in this paper, CTES is a technology that offers the potential to increase the deployment of renewable energy generation. This paper describes CTES design and control strategies that aim to more effectively use the generation of electricity from renewable energy resources. Specifically, one CTES control strategy discussed in this paper will charge the thermal storage system when renewable electricity generation is available and discharge storage to meet building cooling loads during periods of time when renewable energy is not available. This control strategy maximizes the fraction of the chiller's energy consumption met by electricity generated from wind or solar. A second CTES control strategy will maximize the net economic benefit of owning and operating a CTES system, based on equipment costs for both the CTES and the renewable generation systems and the operating cost of the net electric demand after wind or solar generation according to a time-of-use electricity rate structure. To illustrate the positive impact of CTES to enable increased penetration of renewable energy systems, an analysis is performed for a secondary school in the Los Angeles area. Simulated cooling loads for the prototypical school are based on the U.S. Department of Energy Commercial Reference Building Models (2011). To meet primary thermal loads, the secondary school employs air-cooled chillers and an ice storage system. The results show a trade-off between maximizing the use of renewable power and minimizing life-cycle cost, but a storage system designed to optimize the portion of chiller energy consumption met by renewable resources will be more costeffective and better at utilizing electricity from renewable energy resources than a system without thermal storage. These results suggest that widespread implementation of CTES systems may assist utilities in reaching their renewable penetration targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018