Unlocking Energy Flexibility From Thermal Inertia of Buildings
A Robust Optimization Approach
Y. Li (TU Delft - Team Tamas Keviczky)
N. Yorke-Smith (TU Delft - Algorithmics)
T. Keviczky (TU Delft - Team Tamas Keviczky)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Towards integrating renewable electricity generation sources into the grid, an important facilitator is the energy flexibility provided by buildings' thermal inertia. Most of the existing research follows a single-step price- or incentive-based scheme for unlocking the flexibility potential of buildings. In contrast, this paper proposes a novel two-step design approach for better harnessing buildings' energy flexibility. In a first step, a robust optimization model is formulated for assessing the energy flexibility of buildings in the presence of uncertain predictions of external conditions, such as ambient temperature, solar irradiation, etc. In a second step, energy flexibility is activated in response to a feasible demand response (DR) request from grid operators without violating indoor temperature constraints, even in the presence of uncertain external conditions. The proposed approach is tested on a high-fidelity Modelica simulator to evaluate its effectiveness. Simulation results show that, compared with price-based demand-side management, the proposed approach achieves greater energy reduction during peak hours.